Tennis: Serena Williams sets new Grand Slam record

Serena Williams, the current world number one in the WTA circuit, set a new Grand Slam record of 308 victories after defeating Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan at the US Open in New York on Monday. Williams, aged 34, breezed past her opponent 6-2 6-3 and managed to break Roger Federer's previous record of victories at Grand Slam tournaments. Serena Williams will face Romania's Simona Halep in the US Open quarter-finals, the fifth seed defeated Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5 in the fourth round. "It's a huge number," Williams said about her new record. "I think it's very significant actually. I definitely never thought I would be playing still. Now I don't really see when I'm going to stop. I'm just enjoying these moments out here, getting to break records that I didn't even know existed or I didn't even know was possible.'' Williams has won seven of heir eight direct encounters with Simona Halep. The only defeat for Williams against the Romanian was in 2014 at the WTA finals in Singapore, but Serena recovered from that setback and won that tournament, beating Halep in the final. Serena Williams has won the US Open six times, her first triumph was in 1999 and the last one came in 2014. Last season she was stopped in the semi-finals by Roberta Vinci, who then lost the final to fellow Italian player Flavia Pennetta. This year Williams won the Wimbledon tournament but lost the final both at the Australian Open and at Roland Garros. Simona Halep, her opponent in the US Open quarter-finals, has never managed to win a Grand Slam tournament, her only final was in 2014 at the French Open where she lost to Maria Sharapova. Here are the odds at Bet365 for the quarter-final match between Williams and Halep: Serena Williams win - 1.25 Simona Halep win - 4.00