After battling through in three sets against Simona Halep in the quarters, there was no hiding place against 10th seeded Karolina Pliskova on Thursday night at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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She will emulate Graf as US Open champion if she gets the better of Karolina Pliskova, who stunned Serena Williams 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in her semi-final, in Saturday’s championship match. I was trying to play and focus on this match because Caroline is a great player, always tough to play against.
Per WTA Tennis, Pliskova said: “If I play Kerber tomorrow I’ll know her very well”.
The world number 11 had never gone past the third round of a major tournament before but she simply outplayed Williams at her own game, with power, aggression and a blistering serve.
Kerber said she will learn the lessons from her loss to the Czech, who has won 11 matches in a row and had never been beyond the third round of a major before arriving in NY. Commenting on her status as the new top-seeded women’s tennis player, Kerber said: “It’s just incredible, it’s a great day”.
It is only the fourth time she has ever competed at the US Open and the second time that she had made it past the first round of the tournament.
Pliskova advances to her first major final on Saturday, when she will play the victor of Kerber and Wozniacki. “Then I knew if I have the chance to play someone who is better than me, I know I can be risky”. “It’s really special. The match with Venus helped me, not only with the game, but also with the crowd”.
At age 28, Kerber becomes the oldest player to debut at No. 1 and the first German to hold the top spot since Steffi Graf.
“When you’re injured, you’re thinking of other things when you should be just playing and thinking of your shots”. She also knows how to change the pace. “Actually, I do believe it”, Pliskova said in a courtside interview.
“But clearly should have” challenged it, she added. I wasn’t exhausted. Fatigue had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Williams herself refused to take anything away from Pliskova, but admitted that her knee was a significant issue both physically and mentally.
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Williams said: “If I can’t turn around after 24 hours and play again then I shouldn’t be on tour”. “Even if I would have lost the second set, I would be ready for the third one”.
