Angelique Kerber, the provisional No. 1, defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3, while Karolina Pliskova upset Serena Williams 6-2, 7-6 (5) in semifinals action Thursday night at Flushing Meadows, New York.
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Meanwhile, Kerber, who beat Williams in the Australian Open final for her first slam and fell to the same player in the Wimbledon title match, has one unfinished piece of business – getting even with Pliskova, who beat her in last month’s Cincinnati final.
The American was also seeking her 23rd Grand Slam tournament win, which would have broken a tie with Graf for the most titles in the Open era.
Serena Williams lost her No. 1 ranking at the U.S. Open Thursday.
“It is awesome to be in the US Open final and to beat Serena because she is a champion. Actually, I do believe it”, Pliskova said in a courtside interview after the game.
Pliskova became the first Czech woman to make the US Open final since 1993.
With Thursday’s victory Pliskova completed a Williams family double having also beaten Serena’s older sister, sixth-seeded Venus, in the fourth round.
For Wozniacki, despite falling short of reaching a third US Open final the Dane qualifies it as a great fortnight, and a step in the right direction in putting an injury-plagued season behind her.
Kerber is now World number one dethroning Serena.
Kerber made a strong start, racing out to a 4-0 lead before Wozniacki finally started to work her way into the match.
Williams herself refused to take anything away from Pliskova, but admitted that her knee was a significant issue both physically and mentally. “I mean we knew she had knee pain yesterday”.
“It’s just incredible. It’s a great day”, Kerber said on court.
“I wasn’t able to move the way I wanted to move”, she said.
“Fatigue had nothing to do with”, Williams said.
Kerber, who becomes the only German woman other than Graf to get to No. 1, had a chance to overtake Williams last month by winning a hard-court tournament in OH, but lost the final there to Pliskova.
The 6-foot-1 Pliskova serves well, leading the tour in aces this season and averaging 109 miles per hour Thursday, and her angled offerings gave Williams fits. “To be number one in the world, it sounds unbelievable”.
“My mind was just a little bit everywhere, but it was what it was…”
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“I hope I didn’t stop yet, that there is still one more step to go”.
