Serena Williams on the rampage at Flushing Meadows
The Serena Williams juggernaut is gathering speed and judging by the way she has powered her way through to the third round of the US Open, she will be like a runaway truck by the time she gets to the latter stages of the tournament.
Yesterday she flattened Galina Voskoboeva 6-3, 6-0 in 69 minutes – she was trying to play conservatively because of the blustery conditions – and barely broke a bead of perspiration as she did so.
In her first two matches, she has dropped just four games and has only been kept on court for a total of two hours and nine minutes.
Already guaranteed £60,000 for getting to this far, that works out at a handsome pay rate of £30,000 an hour. Nice work if you can get it.
The match had been held over from the previous day after the rain had played havoc with Wednesday’s schedule. But while everyone else in the locker room waited impatiently for updates on when and where their matches would be played as the weather refused to break, Williams was not bothered.
“Oh, I just realised that I wasn’t going to play so I went home,” she said with a shrug. When you are the world No1 and a two-time winner of your home grand slam tournament, you can exercise that sort of power.
Oh, I just realised that I wasn’t going to play so I went home
She will be back at work today against Yaroslava Shvedova, the world No 78 from Kazakhstan whom she has beaten twice before. And no one is putting money on anything other than a straight-sets victory.
“I’m always trying to get a little bit better,” Williams said ominously.
That thought would not have helped Shvedova sleep easily last night.