Serena plays close to perfection in record-setting match

— -- NEW YORK -- It was almost a perfect day for Serena Williams. She coasted into the US Open quarterfinals with her most impressive performance of the tournament. She surpassed Roger Federer with an all-time record 308th Grand Slam match victory.

Even the weather was unexpectedly glorious as she took the Ashe Stadium court.

If only the groans hadn't just died down from big sister Venus' loss in a dramatic third-set tiebreaker, eliminating any chance of an all-Williams semifinal, Labor Day would have been exactly as drawn up.

Instead, Serena would settle for steady progress, another career milestone and a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Yaroslava Shvedova.

"I just feel like I'm going out there doing what I need to do," Serena said. "I'm not overplaying, I'm not underplaying. I'm just trying to play my way into this tournament."

Of course, few players but Williams can call a 68-minute, straight-set win in which she never faced a break point, had 11 aces, a 93 percent first-serve percentage and ripped 28 winners to Shvedova's 11, playing your way in.

Shvedova had defeated Venus in the Wimbledon quarters, so there is always the talk about Serena finding added motivation wherever she can. Shvedova defeated her sister, plus Venus lost Monday, and that equals an amped-up Serena.

Hard to figure. But on a side note, Williams also had the fastest serve of the tournament at 126 mph, another apparent sign that her right shoulder is pretty stable, and said afterward that she couldn't believe how consistently she served.

"I don't think I really served in the summer until I got here to New York," she said. "It was a really tough summer for me. Maybe that's the key."

However she got here, she is still looking ahead to Grand Slam title No. 23, which would be a new Open-era record, while now looking back at Federer's all-time major match victory mark.

"It's a huge number," Williams said after some prodding. "I think it's very significant actually. I think it's something that just really talks about the length of my career, in particular. I've been playing for a really long time but also, given that consistency up there, that's something I'm really proud of."

As she approaches her 35th birthday later this month, she admits that she even amazes herself.

"I definitely never thought I would be playing still," she said. "Now, I don't see when I'm going to stop because I'm just enjoying these moments out here, getting to break records that I didn't even know existed or I didn't know was possible."

As she readies for a quarterfinal berth against No. 5 Simona Halep, her first seeded opponent in the tournament, Williams said she fully expects to get Halep's best.

"I just think with everyone I play, they play a step up and above their ranking," she said. "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. That's how I go into these matches now."

The bad news for Halep, who has lost seven of eight meetings with Williams, is that Serena's comment the other day that "I don't feel like I'm Serena out there yet" took on a more hopeful tone after Monday.

"She's coming," Williams promised. "She hasn't quite come out yet, though."

Almost perfect.