Rogers Cup: Serena Williams sets up Naomi Osaka clash in quarter-finals

Image Credits: Twitter/@Wimbledon

American tennis star and former world number one Serena Williams booked her place in the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup after brushing aside Russian tennis star Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets in the round-of-16 of the tournament on Friday. 

The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who is currently ranked world number 10, was broken twice and dropped the first three games before she rebounded strongly to register a 7-5, 6-4 triumph over Russia's 48th-ranked Alexandrova in a thrilling clash of the women's singles event that lasted almost one and a half hour. 

Williams has now stormed into the quarter-finals of the tournament for the eighth time. The American is bidding to seal her fourth title at the Canadian Open after sealing victories in 2001, 2011, and 2013.

Following the win, Williams remained hopeful that she stays in the rhythm and continue to put up good performances in the coming days. 

"I definitely feel like it takes a while to get back into the rhythm, because we've had a long season of just clay and then grass, and now we're on hard courts. So it definitely feels different, especially for me now. Usually I don't feel that huge of a difference, but for whatever reason I do this year," the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) quoted Williams as saying. 

"But, yeah, I'm feeling good.Just hopefully just being able to stay in the rhythm and playing this week and next week would be good," she added. 

With the win, Williams has now set up a quarter-final clash against Japanese star Naomi Osaka, who swept aside Polish teen Iga Swiatek 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 in another last-16 match that lasted one hour and 51 minutes.

Notably, it will be the first meeting between Williams and Osaka since the Japanese star's comfortable 6-2, 6-4 win at last year's US Open clash which was marred by on-court dispute between the American and the umpire.