Pliskova will meet Croatia’s Ana Konjuh in Wednesday’s daytime quarterfinal, with the victor to meet the Serena-Halep survivor in the semifinals on Thursday evening.
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It’s there that Williams, 34, will take on first-time Slam semifinalist Karolina Pliskova, the tournament’s 10th seed.
“I could play better in those moments when I had chances but I think the level was pretty high”, said Halep, the 2014 French Open runner-up. “I knew that I had to step it up in the third set”.
Right at the start of the third set, Halep held two break points at 15-40, but Williams came through to lead 1-0.
Since crashing out of Wimbledon during the quarterfinals, Halep has won nine of her last ten matches with a tournament win at home in Bucharest defeating Anastasija Sevastova in the final with a double bagel 6-0, 6-0. If both Kerber and Williams make the final, the American will have to win to extend her reign. She added that she owed it all to a tough summer.
“I’m still trying to stay focused on match to match”, she said.
Instead, the soon-to-be 35-year-old was the first one on the practice courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, preparing for a run toward her 23rd Grand Slam title. I definitely want to stick to tennis right now.
But now, the Olympian hopes to keep her No. 1 world position against No. 5 holder Simona Halep. “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”.
World number one Serena Williams has set a new record of most number of Grand Slam matches wins.
Williams overcame a real challenge in the quarterfinals, her first of the these two weeks, by getting past No. 5 Simona Halep 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 with the help of 18 aces and by winning the point on 26 of her 32 trips to the net.
Playing steadily, and with only a dose of the spectacular, the 10th-seeded Monfils reached his first major semifinal since 2008 by beating an error-prone Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a match that concluded under Arthur Ashe Stadium’s retractable roof.
Normally, it takes wins in five full matches to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. “When I came here I was telling myself to just play round by round and play my best”.
He promises to be a unsafe opponent for Wawrinka, a two-time semi-finalist who saved a match point en route to a third-round victory over Britain’s Dan Evans before battling to a hard-fought four-set victory over Ukrainian Illya Marchenko in the round of 16. “Of course, this Grand Slam is very unique for me: I never experienced something like this – to have three retirements on the road to the semifinals”. She mentioned that she was not overplaying, nor was she underplaying as well. Unsurprisingly, Williams gave no indication that she was paying any particular attention to the threat posed by the 24-year-old. “I think it’s been a great tournament”.
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Williams will get a shot at sisterly revenge on Thursday night when she and Pliskova do battle.
