Serena Into Madrid Quarters After Notching 650th Career Win

May 8, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Serena Williams picked up her 650th career win on Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open, moving into 11th place on the all-time match wins list. The 32-year-old Serena knocked off Carla Suarez-Navarro 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals in Madrid.

Williams becomes the 11th player in WTA history to win 650 career matches, and now sits one victory behind her older sister, Venus, for 10th all-time. Serena has now won 29 consecutive matches against Spanish opponents, with her last loss coming back in 1999.

Heading into the match, Williams had dominated the recent head-to-head matchups with Suarez-Navarro, with the Spaniard only able to win five games in the last three matches combined.

In typical fashion, Williams stormed out of the gate, demonstrating power and poise as she ran through the first set 6-2 despite making 15 unforced errors compared to just one for Saurez-Navarro. Serena nailed down 13 winners to make up for her sloppy play to control the first set.

In the second set, the roles were reversed, as the Suarez-Navarro hit four winners but committed 14 unforced errors, while Williams’ hit 14 winners compared to 11 unforced errors. After trailing 2-1, Serena pulled away, winning five of the last six games in the second to clinch the match 6-2, 6-3.

While her power was on display all match, she did not hit her first ace until match point, as Suarez-Navarro hung tough against the top player in the world.

“I feel like she played really well today,” said Serena. “She made me work for every point and it wasn’t an easy win. I think that was her goal today, was to put on a really good show and play really hard and show me what she’s capable of. She’s obviously capable of doing a lot on the court.”

Serena now moves on to face Petra Kvitova, who defeated Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-3 to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Serena has beaten Kvitova in all five of their previous meeting, but Kvitova did win this championship in 2011, while Serena has won the last two. 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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