MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Salto sa kanyang service play, bumawi si Serena Williams sa dominanteng return para makuha ang 7-5, 6-4 panalo kontra No. 16-seeded Barbora Strycova at makausad sa quarterfinals ng Australian Open sa ika-11 season.

“It’s good to know I have a Plan B, or Option 2. I wasn’t serving my greatest today, also she was putting a lot of returns in there,” sambit ni Williams, nakapagtala ng first-serve percentage na 45, at nakagawa ng apat na double-faults.

“I feel like it was really good for me to win on probably not my best day, which is always good, because sometimes you rely on one shot and if it goes off, and then, like, what happens now?”It was really good for me to almost lose that so I know my other game is going pretty good, too,” aniya.

Nanatiling buhay ang kampanya ni Williams sa inaasam na Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam title. Sakaling, magtagumpay, mababawi rin ng 35-anyos American ang No. 1 ranking mula kay Angelique Kerber ng Germany.

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Nasibak si Kerber, nagwagi kay Williams sa nakalipas na Final na naging daan para matuldukan ang pagre-reyna sa Tour sa loob ng 186 sunod na linggo, ni American CoCo Vandeweghe.

Nakalinya na balakid sa hangarin ni Williams si No. 9 Johanna Konta, nagwagi kay Ekaterina Makarova sa ikalawang sunod na paghaharap sa fourth round ng torneo, 6-1, 6-4.

“She’s one of the few players still playing I watched growing up. It’s an incredible honor and I can’t wait to share the court with her,” sambit ni Konta.