NEW YORK (AP) — Maybe Serena Williams simply wanted to put on a better show for her pal Beyonce.
Looking rather displeased with herself at times, including when she shook her head and smirked on the way to the net for a post-victory handshake Thursday night, Williams still managed to tie Martina Navratilova’s professional-era women’s record with her 306th career victory in Grand Slam matches.
Williams beat Vania King 6-3, 6-3 to reach the U.S. Open’s third round.
“I just think it should have been a different scoreline for me. I feel like I made a lot of errors,” Williams said. “But, you know, there’s nothing I can do about that now. What really matters is I got the win. Hopefully I’ll just get better.”
Really? This performance didn’t seem OK? After all, Williams delivered 13 aces with serves that reached 121 mph. She compiled a 38-4 edge in winners. She only dropped six games and needed all of 65 minutes to win.
“I just didn’t have a great day,” was her assessment.
Yes, there were problems. The 28 unforced errors The return game: She won only 13 of 40 points on King’s first serves. Williams did, however, smack one backhand return winner in the final game.
Music power couple Beyonce and Jay Z sat behind Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, in the player’s guest box Thursday.
“It’s always good,” Williams said casually, “to have Beyonce and Jay in the box.”
Delivering 13 aces with the roof closed at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and showing no signs of a sore right shoulder that she said requires “constant” treatment, Williams improved to 306-42 in matches at major tournaments, a winning percentage of .879. Navratilova retired with a 306-49 mark.
Venus Williams breezed through her second-round match.
The seven-time major champ had spent 2 hours, 42 minutes on court in a tense three-set victory over 93rd-ranked Kateryna Kozlova on Tuesday. But against German veteran Julia Goerges on Thursday, Venus Williams won 6-2, 6-3 in 78 minutes.
She had just 17 unforced errors — in complete contrast to the whopping 63 in her first-round win.
The oldest player in the draw at age 36, the sixth-seeded Venus Williams is coming off a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon, her deepest run at a major since 2010.
Wimbledon champ Andy Murray advanced to the third round at the U.S. Open with another straight-set victory.
The second-seeded Murray beat Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday under the roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium with play suspended on the outer courts.
Murray jumped to a quick 5-2 lead in the first set, then it took about 23 minutes to get through the last two games as Granollers saved six set points and got back on serve. But Murray earned another break to finally clinch the set after 67 minutes, then cruised through the final two in 75 minutes combined.
Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. champ, is into the third round at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2012.
Del Potro swept 19th-seeded American Steve Johnson 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday. The Argentine may be ranked 142nd after three left wrist surgeries, but he’s been playing like the major champion he is the last couple of months. Since the start of Wimbledon, he’s posted victories over Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka and won an Olympic silver medal.
In a match that featured a behind-the-back shot by Johnson and a between-the-legs shot by del Potro, the Argentine’s serve — not his big forehand — was the difference. He had 15 aces and won 85 percent of the points on his first serve.
Only Roger Federer, with 307, has won more Grand Slam matches than Serena Williams in the Open era, which dates to 1968 — and he won’t add to that total during this tournament because he is out for the season as he rehabs his surgically repaired left knee. Williams can equal Federer’s total by beating 47th-ranked Johanna Larsson of Sweden on Saturday.
“Would like to take one more step,” Serena Williams said while discussing her Slam win total. After a pause, she added: “several more steps.”
That’s because it’ll take five more victories to win the championship, which would be her seventh at the U.S. Open and 23rd overall at majors, breaking Steffi Graf’s Open-era record in that category.