Serena hits her stride in time for US Open quarter-finals

NEW YORK: The US Open quarter-finals kick off on Tuesday with Serena Williams saying she´s just getting warmed up -- an ominous assessment for the other seven women with eyes on the prize.

"She´s coming, she hasn´t quite come out yet, though," the world number one said of the dominating "Serena" who went missing in action after Wimbledon in large part because of a sore right shoulder.

That seems astonishing, since Williams has reached the last eight without dropping a set or indeed even dropping her serve.

"I just feel like I´m going out there doing what I need to do," she said. "I´m not overplaying, I´m not underplaying. I´m just trying to play my way into this tournament."

She has played her way into a quarter-final against fifth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep, who has won just one of their eight career matches.

Williams said that record wasn´t necessarily a guide to the challenge Halep would pose.

"To me it doesn´t really matter who I play because I have to expect they´re going to play the match of their life," she said. "That´s how I go into these matches now."

They´ll headline women´s action on Wednesday, when Ana Konjuh and Karolina Pliskova meet in a battle of first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalists.

Konjuh, an 18-year-old ranked 92nd in the world, shocked fourth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4 to reach the last eight.

She avenged a second-round loss at Wimbledon in which she held three match points against the Pole.

Pliskova, the 10th seed, defeated sixth-seeded Venus Williams 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).

On Tuesday, world number two Angelique Kerber -- who toppled Williams in the Australian Open final and who has a chance to end the American´s reign atop the world rankings here -- takes on Roberta Vinci.

The seventh-seeded Italian stunned Williams in the semi-finals last year before falling to compatriot Flavia Pennetta in the final.

Tuesday´s other quarter-final sees Caroline Wozniacki, derailed this year by an ankle injury that sent her career into a tailspin, taking on Latvian Anastasija Sevastova, back and on the best Grand Slam run of her career after quitting the sport three years ago.

Wozniacki, a former world number one, is back in the last eight of a Slam for the first time since her second runner-up finish in New York in 2014.

She won´t be taking Sevastova lightly, despite the fact that the Latvian´s previous best run in a major was to the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open.

"She´s a tough player," Wozniacki said. "She has a lot of grit and good hands. It´s not going to be an easy one, but I´m excited just to have another shot."