She won the first four games en route to a 6-4, 6-3 victory that set up a rematch with Karolina Pliskova, who denied the German lefty the No. 1 ranking a few weeks ago then handed it to her Thursday night.
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“Karolina played great today”, Williams said. I am excited to be in the final and to beat Serena as she is such a great champion. She didn’t win the tournament. She will be overtaken Monday by No. 2 Angelique Kerber, who advanced to the final by beating Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 in the second semifinal. “So, I mean, it’s a big result for me”.
“She really proved she’s the world No. 1”, Pliskova told the fans.
Williams added she is used to playing matches on back-to-back days given it is commonplace at most events outside the grand slams. This one goes pretty high on the list, too.
Kerber, who beat Williams in Melbourne before losing to her in the final at Wimbledon, said: “I was watching the match a little bit before I came here, but I was trying to focus on this match, not the match before”. Pliskova is only the fourth woman to beat both Williams siblings during the same Slam.
After the match, she revealed she had been nursing a problem with her left knee in NY since round two.
Pliskova, who arrived at Flushing Meadows with the reputation of grand slam under-achiever having never before been beyond the third round of the major, shed that label by making it all the way to the final and taking on back-to-back world number ones. “She’s not going to win the third”.
“One more step to go”, she said.
Wozniacki at least has the consolation of knowing her surprise run to a fifth semi-final in the city where she keeps a second home will translate to a place back in the world top 30.
The 28-year-old left-hander, who won the Australian Open in January and was Wimbledon runner-up in July, is the first German woman to reach the final in NY since Steffi Graf in 1996.
She was tied with tennis icon Steffi Graf for the record of Grand Slam victories at 22, Williams was looking to beat that record and win her 23rd at the 2016 U.S Open.
Williams praised Pliskova’s ability to take advantage in her first Grand Slam semi-final, saying that even with the injury if the Czech had offered her any opportunity she might have been able to take it. “I’m a professional player, I’ve been playing for over 20 years”. So I think I wasn’t at 100%, but I also think she played well.
The Orlando site has dozens of courts including European red clay, green clay, indoor, outdoor hard courts like those used at the U.S. Open as well as housing for junior players. The big-serving Pliskova was broken just once in her last two matches combined, but Kerber got breaks in the first and last games of the set.
The temperature was in the low 80s, and the air was muggy, and Williams kept using the pleats of her black-and-pink skirt to wipe her sweaty palms between points. By the conclusion of the 2-hour, 7-minute final, Pliskova totalled 47 unforced errors, 30 more than Kerber.
Williams yelled out, “Ai-yai-yai!” and slapped her left thigh. “She couldn’t play tennis”.
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“I don’t talk about that whatsoever”, she said.
