Carlos Alcaraz reaches US Open quarterfinal with late-night win against Marin Cilic (Getty)
Serena Williams set up Maria Sharapova in her US Open quarterfinal by winning the first two sets before trailing 6-3, 6-1, but then came back to beat her in five sets in just over two hours on Saturday night.
Williams served and then won the decisive point in the final game of the final set.
Williams is the only women’s tour player to lose in the entire tournament on her home soil, having trailed Sharapova 2-0 by the end of the first set.
But the Russian has now beaten the No. 5-ranked player in the world in her first two matches in New York.
“I haven’t played a match since the start of the season, so it definitely felt, at least from my perspective, like an intense match,” Sharapova said on court as Williams, the winner of the 2013 US Open and 2014 French Open, looked on.
Sharapova beat Williams in the semifinals last year, and is just one of four players – Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams have all won the US Open.
Sharapova has now beaten Williams in each of the last three majors and two in a row.
Williams had a chance to clinch her first major title since 2013 as she dropped just 30 points on Sharapova, only a double fault away from making it 3-1 in the final set.
Yet Sharapova also had chances to win the match and made them count.
But Williams pulled her serve back to win that game, serving out to give Sharapova a 2-1 lead and taking the first set.
Williams is ranked No. 3 in the world and has won 13 grand slam titles, including Wimbledon in 2015.
Sharapova is ranked 14th in the world and has won 18 titles in singles.
Sharapova came close to making history as the first player to beat Williams in the US Open quarterfinals.
The Russian had won the previous four Grand Slams, having taken the Wimbledon title in 2014 behind Williams.
