Serena Williams defies predictions to knock Sloane Stephens out of US Open

Six-times champion into fourth round in New York
Williams now faces No 15 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece

Serena Williams, hanging on to her reputation like a mountaineer on an icy escarpment, outlasted the 2017 champion, Sloane Stephens, on the sixth day of the 2020 US Open to edge closer to yet more tennis history. But her 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win in an hour and 45 minutes on Arthur Ashe went from fraught to the point of genuine concern and back to blinding dominance as she moved into the fourth round.

Her task gets no easier there, where the lively Greek star Maria Sakkari, who beat her in the Cincinnati Open last week, is waiting for the 23-slam queen of tennis. Earlier on Saturday, Sakkari made short work of another American, the hyped Amanda Anisimova.