Serena Williams dominates Sloane Stephens, moves to quarterfinals

NEW YORK — Serena Williams advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the 11th time with an emphatic 6-4, 6-1 win over 20-year-old fellow American Sloane Stephens.

Stephens is considered heir to Williams’ spot at the top of tennis. Stephens came to the Open seeded 15th and with a win over the top-seeded and top-ranked Williams earlier this year at the first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open.

This fourth-round match, Williams said, “felt a lot bigger. Thanks, Sloane.”

Williams said playing doubles with her sister Venus has helped her serve, and it was that serve, especially in the second set, that kept Stephens off balance.

“Go USA,” Williams told the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. Williams will play crafty Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro, seeded 18th, who upset eighth-seeded German Angelique Kerber, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), in the fourth round.

Amid all the hubbub around the Williams-Stephens match, it almost went unnoticed that defending men’s champion Andy Murray moved ahead, beating Florian Mayer, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2, in a third-round match. Also advancing is suddenly ageless Australian Lleyton Hewitt, the 32-year-old who won his only Grand Slam title here in 2001 and who moved into the fourth round Sunday with a 6-3, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1 over unseeded Russian Evgeny Donskoy.

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