Karolina Pliskova stuns Venus Williams to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open for the first time.
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Halep had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set but got broken.
At 36, Williams was trying to become the oldest Grand Slam quarterfinalist since Martina Navratilova was 37 at Wimbledon in 1994.
If there were any questions about how fiercely the competitive fires burn within Williams after 18 U.S. Opens, she answered them all in the 11th game. The 22-time major champ plays Yaroslava Shvedova later in the day.
“You can have a few good matches but to win matches like this, it takes some time”, said Pliskova, who has developed a reputation as a grand slam under-achiever having never been beyond the third round until this year’s U.S. Open.
“I just gave everything I had”, Halep, who next faces Serena, said.
Adding to the suspense, Williams also had a match point opportunity of her own which she failed to convert. But Pliskova erased that with a swinging forehand volley the sort of shot Williams loves to hit and followed it up with another aggressive forehand victor.
Halep, who reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows past year, edged ahead in her rivalry with Suarez Navarro, now leading their head-to-head series 6-5. After Pliskova frittered away one with a double-fault, Williams steeled herself and stepped up, smacking a volley victor, cross-court backhand victor and two forehand winners to break back for 6-all.
“I’m really happy I could win this match”.
Somehow, though, she pulled herself together enough to get through the tiebreaker as Williams faltered. “So I was all the time a little bit handicapped”.
Now Pliskova will face No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska or Ana Konjuh.
Simona Halep made the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open for the second straight year, beating Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets. Now it’s 2014 French Open runner-up Halep’s turn to try to deal with the serve of Serena Williams, who reached a tournament-best 126 miles per hour, delivered 11 aces and won 28 of 30 first-serve points against Shvedova.
Del Potro knows all about that. Jimmy Connors was 174th when he made a stirring run to the semifinals in NY at age 39 in 1991.
In the men’s draw, both Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka and Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro progressed.
But Pliskova claimed a break mid-way through the second and soon levelled the match.
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In del Potro’s case, his body has betrayed him through injuries, not age – multiple left wrist surgeries that kept him out of the last two U.S. Opens. For once, an injury was aiding del Potro, not hindering him.
