Karolina Pliskova claimed it was harder to beat Venus Williams than it was to stun Serena Williams to make the US Open final on Thursday.
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Kerber took down Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 to earn a spot in her third Grand Slam final this year.
While Pliskova, a 24-year-old from the Czech Republic, advances to her maiden major final, Williams is stopped short of winning a record 23rd Grand Slam.
Williams said she was carrying a knee injury but conceded that her opponent was better than her.
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 think if she had played any less, then maybe I would have had a chance”, Williams said. So I think I wasn’t at 100%, but I also think she played well.
Pliskova, who has been riding her own string of success in Flushing Meadows, cruised to a win in the first set, but Williams battled back down the stretch and rallied to 3-all in the tiebreak.
German Angelique Kerber, who later defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the second semi-final, will now take over from Williams as the new No 1 on Monday.
Newly minted world number one tennis star Angelique Kerber has miles to go before she consolidates her position. Thursday night’s match caused Williams to lose her chance at making Grand Slam title history.
Kerber said: ‘It was not so easy to go on court because I knew it actually before that if Serena lost, of course, that I will be the No 1.
“I’m a perfectionist and I love to win”. “For me, it’s just unbelievable to be after Steffi the next No.1 player in Germany”, said Kerber, who at 28 will become the oldest player to reach No.1. Even in the second set there was some complications.
It has been an interesting year in women’s tennis as after complete dominance for 186 consecutive weeks, Serena Williams has finally been ousted from the top of the women’s rankings. If I was exhausted, I need to find a new career.
While Williams’s serve has always been reckoned the most powerful weapon in women’s tennis, 11th-ranked Pliskova came into the contest boasting a tour-leading 439 aces. Oh, and she also made the final at the Olympics, too.
“Obviously, the match with Venus helped me…not only with the game, but also with the crowd”, Pliskova said. “She gets a lot of balls back”. I just tried to focus on this match. “I’m really excited about those two wins”, she said.
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But she was one of the tour’s in-form players, going into the semi-final after 10 successive wins.
