Kerber advances to quarters

Angelique Kerber won a battle of Grand Slam champions when the second seed powered her way into the quarterfinals of the US Open on Sunday with a 6-3 7-5 win over Petra Kvitova.

By reaching the last eight Kerber has put herself in position to end Serena Williams’ long reign as world No.1.

Williams, bidding for a record seventh US Open title, will now need to reach the final to have a chance of retaining top spot.

“When I was a kid, of course I was dreaming to winning slams and being one day No.1,” Kerber said.

“Now it can happen.

“I’m trying to not put pressure on myself because I know I have to win few more matches to reach the No.1.

“When it happens it will be amazing feeling because that was also one of my dreams.

“But let’s see what happens here in the next few days.”

The fourth-round match had a definite major pedigree to it with Kerber, the Australian Open champion, going against twice Wimbledon champion Kvitova but failed to deliver any major excitement.

To be fair, Kerber and 14th-seeded Kvitova were handed a tough act to follow with the capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd left buzzing about Frenchman Lucas Pouille’s upset win over Rafael Nadal in a five set thriller that had an hour earlier closed out the day session.

Kerber was in command from the start, winning all the big points on way to taking the opening set.

Kvitova, the Rio Olympic bronze medallist, offered more resistance in the second before meekly surrendering with a double fault on match point to gift Kerber a place in the quarterfinals.

Kerber’s victory set up an intriguing last eight clash with Italy’s Roberta Vinci, last year’s surprise runner-up advancing with a 7-6(5) 6-2 win over Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.