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Williams, a seven-time singles and 14-time women’s doubles Grand Slam champion, is playing her 25th US Open.<\/p>\n
She won the first of her two women’s doubles titles in New York with younger sister Serena in 1999, three years before Fernandez was born.<\/p>\n
Addressing Williams in her on-court interview, former US Open singles runner-up Fernandez said: “Seeing you play on court with the same big smile you had back then is so inspirational and motivates me to keep going. I love that you love tennis.”<\/p>\n
It is the first time that Williams has reached the quarter-finals of a major since winning the Wimbledon title, also alongside Serena, in 2016.<\/p>\n
Asked if she had a message for her younger sibling, Williams joked: “She’s so happy for Leylah and I, she’s given us advice and we just need her in the box, so my message is ‘Serena, you need to show up!'”<\/p>\n
Their quarter-final opponents could be top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, whose third-round match had not begun when Williams and Fernandez left the court having signed autographs for many of their waiting supporters.<\/p>\n
For Alexandrova, it was the second defeat of the day on Louis Armstrong Stadium, having earlier been knocked out of the singles by Iga Swiatek on the same court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n