Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic celebrates defeating Serena Williams of the US at the US Open in New York Thursday.
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“Steffi is a great champion, she’s a great person”.
By summoning some incredible poise to handle the pressure, she became the first Czech woman to reach the US Open final since Helena Sukova in 1993.
“Karolina played great today”, said Williams.
“I will go out there trying to get my next chance against her and take revenge, of course”.
“I don’t think much went well today”, Williams told reporters (h/t Nick McCarvel of USA Today).
“When you’re injured, you’re thinking of other things when you should be just playing and thinking of your shots. I really played with confidence, and I knew if I played my game definitely I had a chance to beat anyone”. “I think I had a pretty positive attitude mostly, outside of maybe my second round”.
“So I really believe now that I can beat good players and actually all of the players now”. For two years in a row she has faced an underdog in the semi-finals of her home Grand Slam event knowing that she was on the verge of creating history.
Williams opened the contest with an ace but in the end it was the American’s serve that ultimately let her down as she committed six double faults, including the deciding point in the tiebreak. She had seven aces and hung in there in the second set when Williams tried to rally. An opponent playing her best in the biggest match of her career?
Williams was reluctant to discuss how long the injury might affect her and the rest of her schedule this year but was adamant she was not affected by fatigue.
Kerber celebrated her ascension with a 6-4 6-3 win over Caroline Wozniacki to advance to the U.S. Open final, where she will meet Pliskova.
On her schedule for the rest of the year.
In three previous main draw appearances at Flushing Meadows, Pliskova, 24, had lost twice in the first round and had a 2-3 win-loss record.
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However, Pliskova hung in and, after frittering away her first four break points of the match, she converted her fifth with a lob-volley victor that curled over Kerber and fell right by the baseline to lead 4-3 as she forced a final set. “Not just enjoy but to win”. And, like Roberta Vinci 12 months ago, she has stunned world No 1 Serena Williams (6-2, 7-6) in the semis to get there.
