US Open day 6 wrap: Serena’s 307, Wawrinka & Murray tested

307. That’s three hundred and seven. Yes, Serena Williams has now won more Grand Slam matches than any other woman in the Open Era. That remarkable achievement was just one of many on a busy Saturday at the US Open.

Quick Hits:

• Serena Williams breaks yet another tennis record.
• Andy Murray survived his first tough test of this US Open.
• Juan Martin Del Potro sweeps past David Ferrer.
• Simona Halep edges into the Last 16.
• Stan Wawrinka wins epic battle against Dan Evans.

The women’s action

Does Serena Williams hold the tennis record for the most number of tennis records? If she doesn’t, she can’t be far off. With her 6-2 6-1 demolition of Johanna Larsson, Serena surpassed Martina Navratilova’s long-standing record of 306 Grand Slam wins – and booked her spot in the Last 16.

“It was a really good feeling, I have to say,” Williams said. “To be up there with both men and women is something that’s super rare, and it actually feels good.

“I was really excited to reach that, was it 306? 307? I was really excited to do that. Something I didn’t even know about until Wimbledon. I was like, Oh, I have a new goal. That was pretty cool for me. Obviously I want to keep that number going higher and see what can happen.”

Joining Serena in the Last 16 is (once again) her sister, Venus. The sixth seed looked every bit as dominant as her sister during her 6-1 6-2 win over the potentially tricky Laura Siegemund.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the seeds, though. Simona Halep was made to dig very deep by Hungary’s Timea Babos. After a dominant start, Babos played herself back into the match, before Halep managed to edge the win 6-1 2-6 6-4.

“I don’t know how I came back,” Halep said after the match. “I felt like I didn’t play my best but I was fighting to the end for every ball.

Elsewhere, Aga Radwanska looked impressive in her 6-2 6-3 win over Caroline Garcia; Carla Suarez Navarro swept past Elena Vesnina 6-4 6-3; and Karolina Pliskova downed the in-form Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-4.

The men’s action

Talk about surviving by the skin of your teeth… Stan Wawrinka probably walked onto court expecting a relatively straightforward day at the office against Dan Evans. Down a match point in the fourth set, he knew it was anything but. Wawrinka did eventually manage to find a way past the Brit, but it took five sets and a lot of digging to eek out the 4-6 6-3 6-7(6) 7-6(8) 6-2 win.

“It was an unbelievable fight tonight, I was lucky to get through that match,” Wawrinka said. “He was pushing me a lot at the end. I’m really happy to survive.”

Paolo Lorenzi may not have dragged Andy Murray to five sets, but the Italian certainly made the world No.2 work for the win. Lorenzi captialised on some relatively ‘loose’ play from the Scot to grab the second set, but ultimately succumbed 7-6(4) 5-7 6-2 6-3.

“When I slowed things down and waited for the right shot to go for, my unforced errors went down, the winners went up and the scoreboard started working in my favour as well,” Murray mused after the win.

One man who had a surprisingly straightforward day at the office was Juan Martin del Potro. The big Argentine re-underlined suspicions he’s getting back to his formidable best with a 7-6(3) 6-2 6-3 win over David Ferrer.

“It’s tough to describe this moment for me,” gushed del Potro. “After my surgery, I was really close to quitting tennis. Now I’m playing again, and I’m doing it at home. The crowd, the atmosphere – it’s incredible.”

Elsewhere, Kei Nishikori had to come from behind to beat Nicolas Mahut 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-3; Dominic Thiem had to fight hard to get past Pablo Carreno Busta 1-6 6-4 6-4 7-5; and Grigor Dimitrov continued his run of good form with a 6-4 6-1 3-6 6-2 win.