A seventh title at Flushing Meadows, which would have been an Open-era record, will have to wait.
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“Steffi is a great champion, she’s a great person”.
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.
Serena Williams lost her No. 1 ranking at the U.S. Open Thursday.
“For me, it’s just fantastic to be after Steffi the next number one player in Germany”, said Kerber, who at 28 will become the oldest player to reach number one.
There, she made it to the finals and would have earned the ranking had she won, but it was Pliskova who she faced and Pliskova who she lost to in straight sets. “I was really going for my win there and got the win, which gave me a lot of confidence”.
Kerber, who reached the finals at the Rio Olympics as well, leads Pliskova 4-3 in head-to-head matchups, but was blown off the court in their most recent duel, losing last month’s Cincinnati final 6-3, 6-1.
“I don’t care”, Pliskova said. “I always knew I have a chance to beat anyone if I’m playing my game”. This one goes pretty high on the list, too.
The second-seeded German southpaw faces the 10th-seeded Serena slayer, Karolina Pliskova, in Saturday’s finals – an event that probably won’t move ESPN’s ratings needle with Williams gone.
“I have been having some serious left knee problems”, Williams said. “First, she has a match here that she’s focused on”.
And to think: Pliskova, 24, had never been past the third round in 17 previous appearances at majors. I hope I didn’t stop yet, that there is still one more step to go.
After defeating Simona Halep 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarter final match of the US Open on Wednesday night, Serena Williams, seeded number 1, was shockingly beaten last night, Thursday in the semifinals by now family foe, Karolina Pliskova.
Murray and Soares, who won the first Grand Slam they played together at the Australian Open in January, knocked off defending champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert to reach the final. 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. “She will go out there and try and win her first grand slam, but at the end I will try the same”, said Kerber. “I know how I was playing in Cincinnati. So it’s something really special for me”.
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The changing of the guard as women’s top player also safeguarded Graf’s share of the record for most consecutive weeks at number one with Williams at 186. “Even if I don’t get it, it’s still a big result”.
