Commenting on her status as the new top-seeded women’s tennis player, Kerber said: “It’s just incredible, it’s a great day. Her outstanding results reflect this, and she truly deserves to be the new WTA World No.1”.
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“I will try to take revenge against her”, Kerber said.
“It was always a dream to get a title, to get to the semi-final, to get to the final”, Pliskova added. So I think I wasn’t at 100%, but I also think she played well.
“It doesn’t happen often, that you’re playing especially a semi-final against Serena on centre court here in NY”.
Pliskova becomes only the fourth player to beat both of the Williams sisters in a Grand Slam event, after overcoming Venus in the fourth round.
Last month, Pliskova denied Kerber from claiming the top rankings spot by beating her in the Cincinnati final, and at the trophy ceremony the tall Czech said, “Maybe next time”, as a tepid consolation to the German. “I was pretty calm”. I fought all I could, and just came up a bit short’. “I think she’s proud of me to be the next No. 1 after her”.
“I’m a perfectionist and I love to win”.
“I’m just happy with my win, and I’m not gonna think about something like this”. An opponent playing her best in the biggest match of her career? Then came Williams, never one to back down, going ahead 5-4, two points from forcing a third set. I was calm during the whole match.
For the second year in a row, Serena Williams’ bid to make history ended with a shocking loss in the U.S. Open semifinals. I was up a break. “It wasn’t a five-hour match”.
Serena said she had “serious left knee problems”, which she thought occurred during a second or third round match. If I was exhausted, I need to find a new career. “If I was exhausted, I should definitely get into a new career”. She gets good angles.
Karolina Pliskova, of the Czech Republic, reacts after beating Serena Williams during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in NY.
Karolina Pliskova, a 24-year-old from Louny, collected a semifinal win over No. 1 Serena Williams Thursday night, two rounds after showing the elder Williams, Venus, the door at the National Tennis Center. She’s never giving up.
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Pliskova, who has led the WTA Tour in aces the last two seasons, kept the 34-year-old American under pressure nearly from the start and had break chances on all but one of Serena’s service games in the first set and converted twice.
