Serena Williams stunned world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit to stay the course at the final tournament of her career as she reached the third round 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-2 on Wednesday at the US Open.
The player who turns 41 this month, is due to retire when her run at Flushing Meadows is done.
But the next chapter is still to be played out after the Williams win in two and a half hours over her Estonian opponent.
Williams finished the match with a break of Kontaveit, her fifth of the evening at the Ashe arena.
“There is no rush here,” Williams said of her retirement. “It’s really fantastic, there’s still a little bit left in me.”
After not playing from one Wimbledon to another, the 23-time Grand Slam champion lost the first three matches she played this summer before getting through her first round here on Monday over Danka Kovinic.
“This is what I do best,” she said. “I’ve not played many matches but I’ve been practicing really well.
“In my last few matches things did not come together but they are here.”
Williams said that losing the second set sruppred her to action.
“I just told myself to give my best effort and see what I could do. I was super-excited.
“I don’t have anything to prove or to win.. and absolutely nothing to lose.
“I’ve had an “X” on my back since 1999.”
Williams stands 75-2 in second-round Grand Slam matches with her only losses coming to sister Venus in the 1998 Australian Open and Garbien Muguruza at 2014 Roland Garros.
Williams is only the fourth woman in the Open era to win Tour matches aged in her 20s, 30s and 40s.
