New York: Defending champion Serena Williams won her much-anticipated US Open showdown with Sloane Stephens on Sunday while Li Na avenged a painful loss in Rome to join the world number one in the last eight.
Williams defeated US 15th seed Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-1 to reach the US Open quarter-finals, winning eight of the last nine game in avenging a loss that ousted her from the 2013 Australian Open. "It definitely felt like a bigger match because Sloane is such a great player, but I had to stay focused in the moment," Williams said. "I just tried the whole time to do what I wanted to, stay calm and stay relaxed."
Williams booked a quarter-final against Spanish 18th seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who upset German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3). Also booking a quarter-final matchup were Chinese fifth seed Li, who beat Serbian ninth seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-0, and Russian 24th seed Ekaterina Makarova, who upset Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4.
Li, the 2011 French Open champion, matched her best US Open result by reaching the last eight. "Maybe today was the best match of my whole life," Li said, saying that her strategy against Makarova would be to "Play aggressive. I wish I can play the same level like today."
Li improved to 5-4 against Jankovic, motivated by the sting of a loss in their most recent match in a round-of-16 affair last May in Rome. "Last time I lost to her in Rome I was feeling so sad," Li said. "I was feeling I played so good. I said, 'You have to remember how you felt after Rome and not have that feeling any more.'"
Suarez Navarro hit 45 winners and took advantage of 50 unforced errors by Kerber to rally for the victory after two hours and 41 minutes. Radwanska dropped the last eight games and was ousted in the fourth round at the US Open for the fourth time, having never reached the quarter-finals.
"I want to know as well what happened," Radwanska said. "She was a little nervous in the beginning and she started playing better and better and I didn't do anything to win that first set."
Williams, who at 31 could become the oldest US Open women's champion, and Stephens had not played since the 20-year-old prodigy beat the four-time US Open champion 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in an Australian Open quarter-final last January.
The Williams-Stephens relationship was strained after Stephens accused the 16-time Grand Slam champion of being disrespectful and using intimidation tactics and mind games with her yells of "Come on," but both women said before the match that soured feelings had been repaired.
In the 87-minute match, both apologized to each other for wind-blown ball tosses that they did not hit. And when they met at the net after match point, Williams told Stephens, "I love you so much."Stephens said she was simply outplayed by the world's best. "I thought I played good. I played pretty solid," Stephens said. "The second set got away from me a little bit.
"She's number one for a reason. She played pretty well herself. She did a lot of things well."
The showdown of African-American stars, the world number one and the second-highest-rated American player, came in windy conditions at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Both wore expressions of stoic, grim determination during the match.
"It was a high-quality match," Williams said. "I was really focused. I just tried to be positive a lot on my serve. My defense was good. I generally have been playing better defense this year, moving better and trying to be faster."
Stephens set a goal of trying to crack the season-ending top 10, a move made easier because she has no points to defend the rest of the year. "Obviously I want to keep getting better, just little things I can do to keep improving to get to the next level," Stephens said.
"I'm going to try and break into the top 10 at the end of the season. That's a big jump from where I was last year, around 40 and kind of lingering. This year has been pretty good year for me. I'm going to try to end it with a bang." Williams did say Stephens got one thing wrong, however: "She's already at the next level."
Radwanska loses to Makarova in US Open's 4th round

Radwanska loses to Makarova in US Open's 4th round
Agnieszka Radwanska simply can't make it past the fourth round at the U.S. Open, the Grand Slam tournament where she's had the least success.
A 6-4, 6-4 loss to 24th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia on Sunday night marked the fourth time since 2007 that Radwanska left Flushing Meadows in the fourth round. She was the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2012, and has made it to the quarterfinals at both the Australian Open and French Open. But she's never been past the round of 16 in New York, where she was the No. 3 seed this year.
Makarova had lost all three previous matches she'd played against Radwanska in straight sets. The Russian's victory Sunday allowed her to reach her third Grand Slam quarterfinal - and first at the U.S. Open.
America sinks to new low as Djokovic, Murray ease

America sinks to new low as Djokovic, Murray ease
American men's tennis slumped to an historic Grand Slam low on a sweltering Sunday at the US Open as Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray remained on course for a blockbuster semi-final.
Wildcard Tim Smyczek was America's last hope of avoiding the embarrassment of not having a man in the fourth round of the country's own Grand Slam for the first time in the Open era. But Spain's Marcel Granollers delivered the executioner's blow when he beat 109th-ranked Smyczek 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the last 16 and condemn the US to humiliation in a sport they once dominated.
In an historic flop, no US man reached the fourth round of any of the year's four majors. "I really wanted to win for you guys," said Smyczek. "I just came up a little short."
The US Open wipeout came on the heels of no US man reaching the third round at Wimbledon for the first time since 1912 and it leaves Andy Roddick as their most recent Grand Slam champion when he won in New York in 2003. Djokovic, the reigning Australian Open champion and the US Open titlist in 2011, brushed aside world number 95 Joao Sousa, the first Portuguese man to make the third round, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 to make the last 16.
Third-seeded defending champion Murray eased past Germany's world number 49 Florian Mayer, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2 while 2001 champion Lleyton Hewitt maintained his dream run with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win over Russia's Evgeny Donskoy.
Djokovic, the 2011 champion and bidding to reach the final for a fourth year in succession, next faces Granollers, who he has beaten in their only previous meeting, for a place in the quarter-finals. "I just do my job, win in straight sets, and spend as little time on court as possible," said Djokovic after unleashing 34 winners past the hapless Sousa.
Murray, who ended his country's 76-year wait for a Grand Slam men's champion when he won his maiden major title in New York last year, eased past Germany's world number 49 Florian Mayer, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2.His win was built on an impressive 42 winners and seven aces. "I think I need to start my matches quicker than I have been doing. I am not that fast out of the blocks," said the 26-year-old. "But once I got going I was striking the ball cleanly."
Murray, the reigning Olympic and Wimbledon champion, will next face Uzbekistan's world number 65 Denis Istomin, who put out Italian 20th seed Andreas Seppi, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-1. Istomin will be playing in the last 16 in New York for the first time after ending Seppi's perfect streak of seven five-set wins in 2013. Two of those came against him at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Murray defeated Istomin in their only match in the quarter-finals at Brisbane in January this year. Hewitt reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the 30th time with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win over Russia's Evgeny Donskoy. The former world number one, who knocked out sixth seed and 2009 winner Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round, last reached the fourth round in 2006, when he went on to the quarter-finals.
"It's always great to come back to New York where it all started for me -- I won the doubles in 2000 and singles in 2001. I have played some of my best tennis here," said Hewitt, who claimed victory on a third match point. The 32-year-old world number 66 will next face Russia's 21st seed Mikhail Youzhny, twice a semi-finalist, who put out German 12th seed Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
Haas at 35 was the oldest man in the draw, but his challenge was hobbled by a right foot injury. Hewitt has a 5-1 career lead over Youzhny. Fifth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and Swiss ninth seed Stanislas Wawrinka will clash for a spot in the quarter-finals. Berdych, who defeated five-time winner Roger Federer on his way to the semi-finals last year, eased past French 31st seed Julien Benneteau, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.
Wawrinka, a quarter-finalist in 2010, got past unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, the former world number eight but now down at 53 in the world, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (9/7).