Title favourite Serena Williams enjoyed a routine straight-sets win over Ana Ivanovic to reach the US Open quarter-finals on Monday.
Odds-on favourite proves too good for Ivanovic in New York
Title favourite Serena Williams enjoyed a routine straight-sets win over Ana Ivanovic at the US Open on Monday.
Williams, now odds-on for a fourth Flushing Meadows crown of her career, continued her march through the draw with a 6-3 6-4 victory in New York.
She will now face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a place in the semi-finals.
Williams got her big serve firing from the off - she would finish with nine aces - as she raced into a 3-0 lead on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Shocker
However, former world number one Ivanovic, who is hoping British coach Nigel Sears can help propel her back up the rankings, hit back by reeling off the next three games, breaking Williams' serve for the first and only time in the match.
Having fought back, Ivanovic threw in a shocker of a game at 3-4, producing three double faults to allow Williams to regain the intiative.
The American, seeded only 28th due to a long spell out of the game, refused to relent and grabbed an early break in the second set to open a 2-0 lead.
It was one she refused to relinquish, despite Ivanovic battling hard.
In the end though there were too many unforced errors from the Serb - 29 to her opponent's 14 - and she was unable to force a break-back point as Williams wrapped up her expected victory in just 74 minutes.
