Serena Williams beats Kaia Kanepi in 3 sets after winning 1st set in 18 minutes
Serena Williams started fast and finished strong to reach the quarterfinals by beating Kaia Kanepi 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
Williams, seeded 17th, won the first set in just 18 minutes. After dropping the second set, she seized control again by racing to a 3-0 lead in the final set.
The six-time U.S. Open champion, who missed the tournament last year and gave birth to her daughter during it, advanced to face 2016 finalist and No. 8 seed Karolina Pliskova, who defeated No. 18 seed Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-4.
Pliskova was the runner-up at Flushing Meadows in 2016, when she beat Williams in the semifinals.
Kanepi, the 44th-ranked Estonian who knocked out top-ranked Simona Halep, was trying to make her second straight U.S. Open quarterfinal.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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