Serena Williams’ 186-week reign as world number one is over as Karolina Pliskova beat her 6-2 7-6 (7-5) in the semi-finals of the US Open.
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Reaching top of the world seems to agree with Angelique Kerber, who celebrated her ascension to the No.1 ranking with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Caroline Wozniacki on Thursday to advance to Saturday’s US Open final.
Pressure has been mounting on Williams as she remains one Grand Slam title away from beating Graf’s record following her Wimbledon victory earlier this year, bringing her Grand Slam singles title wins to 22.
The 10th-seeded Pliskova had never even been to the round of 16 at a major before she blew past that milestone at the U.S. Open. Pliskova was quite surprised herself, saying she couldn’t believe she beat the former No. 1 Williams before adding “I mean, actually, I do believe it”.
Her rise into the final also included wins over seeded players Venus Williams and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The 28-year-old German becomes the oldest to be ranked number one and the first from her country since Steffi Graf held the top rank in women’s tennis.
“Karolina played great today”.
This is the second straight year Williams has fallen at the final hurdle in a bid for history at a Grand Slam. I fought all I could, and just came up a bit short’.
“I wasn’t able to move the way I wanted to move”.
She also said she wants to try to control points more than she did the last time she faced Pliskova. “It’s really special. The match with Venus helped me, not only with the game, but also with the crowd”. “To beat Serena, she’s world No. 1, so it’s always tough to beat someone like this”.
‘But at the end I know how I was playing in Cincinnati.
“It’s just not my business”, she said.
When asked about her health and how she was feeling after her victory on Wednesday, Williams, the last American to be eliminated, admitted that she wasn’t 100% but noted, “I’m OK”.
“Like I was making errors that I never make, and definitely I didn’t make in this tournament in particular”. I know how she is playing.
“If someone is not ready and she doesn’t think she is ready, she should not go on the court”.
However, Williams, who has no points to defend from, past year in comparison to the German can really use this opportunity to get back as well.
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“It was about those last two, three weeks that I have played here in the States and I won good matches”.
