Serena Williams is into the U.S. Open quarters after another gut-check victory

This one required a little resiliency from Serena Williams.

And frankly, that characteristic is more important for Williams today, a few weeks shy of 39 years old, if she’s going to catch Margaret Court with her 24th Grand Slam title. Williams can no longer plow through the field, and that was again evident on Labor Day when she needed almost 2 1/4 u00bd hours to defeat 15th-seeded Maria Sakkari, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3.

Williams can still beat anybody, and she can now lose to a lot more competitors. That’s her new reality.

“It was really an intense match,” Williams said.