Pliskova, the 10th seed, defeated sixth-seeded Venus Williams 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
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The world number one will now face fifth seed Simona Halep in the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows as she chases an Open-era record 23rd grand slam title and another spot in the history books.
Williams said that record wasn´t necessarily a guide to the challenge Halep would pose. She double-faulted the first match-point opportunity away, and Williams parlayed that into five consecutive winning points to push the match to a tiebreaker. I’ve been playing for a really long time, but also given that consistency up there. “I’m not going to let that opportunity go”.
“Hopefully we’ll both keep going”, she added.
The evergreen Serena Williams can not picture an end date for her illustrious career after breaking another record at the US Open.
Williams hit an astounding 28 winners in Monday’s 68-minute match.
Given the quality and quantity of her time in tennis, Williams is starting to threaten numerous standards of this great game.
17 – number of previous Grand Slams that Karolina Pliskova had played without getting out of the third round before this week. Now it’s Halep’s turn to try to deal with the serve of Serena Williams, who reached a tournament-best 126 miles per hour, delivered 11 aces and won 28 of 30 first-serve points against Shvedova.
The biggest stunner of the day was authored by 18-year-old Ana Konjuh, who reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal by downing fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4, 6-4. “I think it’s really exciting”. “I think that’s one of the reasons I’m able to hang. Then I could continue my good play in the next few games”. “That’s how I go into these matches now”. Prior to her US Open fourth round win over Yaroslava Shvedova, Williams was tied with Swiss great Roger Federer. She has won 22 major titles since. Here’s the victory breakdown: 88 at the U.S. Open, 86 at Wimbledon, 74 at the Australian Open, 60 at the French Open. Graf was the last player to have done so, back in 1988. She takes on seventh-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci – who shocked Serena en route to a runner-up finish previous year.
But the in-form Czech – who shocked world number two Angelique Kerber in the final at Cincinnati in August – settled her own late nerves to pull off the upset in front of a partisan Arthur Ashe stadium crowd.
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If she wins the US Open title on Saturday, it would take her past the record she shares with Chris Evert and just one behind Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.
