Serena Williams powers past Roger Federer’s Grand Slam win record

Serena Williams seems to break records as easily as most players break sweat, but even the 34-year-old American admitted that her latest entry into the sport’s history books was “pretty cool”.

By beating Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 here last night to book her place in the quarter-finals of the US Open for the 14th time, Williams passed Roger Federer’s Open era record of 307 victories in Grand Slam matches. “It’s a huge number,” Williams said. “It really talks about the length of my career in particular. I’ve been playing for a really long time, but also there’s that consistency. That’s something that I’m really proud of.”

Federer, who is just 49 days older than Williams, is not playing here, having ended his season early because of a knee injury. Asked which of the two might end their careers with the most Grand Slam victories, Williams said: “We’ll see. Hopefully we’ll both keep going. I know I plan on it. I know he does.”

Williams started the tournament with concerns over a shoulder injury and said last week that she was still waiting for “the real Serena” to appear. Had she arrived yet? “She’s coming,” Williams said after her 68-minute demolition of Shvedova. “She hasn’t quite come out yet.”

Williams, who will break Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles if she wins here, has yet to drop her serve and indeed has faced only one break point in the tournament so far.

In the quarter-finals, she will face a seeded opponent for the first time when she takes on Simona Halep, the world No5, but Williams insisted: “Everyone I’m playing is playing like they’re No1.

“To me it doesn’t really matter who I play because I have to expect they’re going to play the match of their life.”

Any prospect of a semi-final showdown between Serena and Venus Williams were dashed when the older sister failed to convert a match point and was beaten 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 by Karolina Pliskova.

In the next round, Pliskova will meet Croatia’s Ana Konjuh, ranked 92, who beat the world No4, Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4, 6-4.