The American star is chasing a landmark 23rd Grand Slam but will have to wait until next year to have another attempt at bettering her current 22 titles – a record she shares with Steffi Graf.
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The disappointment is doubled for Williams as it means she will also surrender the world number one ranking at the end of the tournament to Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
In the other semi-final, Kerber defeated Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-4, 6-3.
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. “Yeah, serious left knee problems”.
Instead, Williams and her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, pointed to the left leg that she repeatedly clutched. “It’s a big result for me”, she said. “When you’re hampered you’re thinking of other things”, she said.
“Even my game I think was a little bit better against Venus. But it was what it was”.
The 28-year-old has blamed fatigue for that defeat and says she is ready to try and gain revenge on the Czech.
The set went to a tiebreak and it was Pliskova who won through to the final after Williams double faulted and lose her staus as world No.1 to Angelique Kerber. “I was actually really exhausted because I came from Rio and I had a lot of tough matches there”, Kerber said. “If I was exhausted, I should definitely get into a new career”.
Williams herself refused to take anything away from Pliskova, but admitted that her knee was a significant issue both physically and mentally. “I’m concentrating on myself and not on them”.
Asked about her ranking, she retorted: ‘I don’t talk about that whatsoever’.
“I’m only really proud-you know, obviously I’m a perfectionist and I love to win”.
But Pliskova stopped her from claiming the No 1 position in Cincinnati, and she could be a party spoiler for the German and her fans once again. “Serena, she’s a champion, so it’s never easy to play her”. “I was trying not to think about it too much the last few weeks”.
“One more step to go”, she said.
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Williams had to back up from her three-set quarter-final win against Romania’s Simona Halep yesterday, and has to call the trainer out during today’s match to work on her leg.
