“I knew I could play a lot better”, Williams said of her frustration in a second set that lasted 65 minutes.
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The scrappy fifth seeded Romanian managed to take the first break points from Williams during the Flushing Meadows fortnight and the only set surrendered by the top seed but at the end of the day the result was the same, the 34-year-old American walking off court with a 6-2 4-6 6-3 win.
Taking the women’s title this week would put Williams ahead of Steffi Graf for the most singles championships since the introduction of the open era in 1968, when the Grand Slam tournaments agreed to permit professional players to compete with amateurs.
However, the 2009 US Open champion is playing well above that ranking, as evidenced by the silver medal in Rio that earned him a wild card invitation to the final Grand Slam of the year.
Pliskova, who rallied to beat sixth-seeded Venus Williams in three sets Monday, has now won 10 straight matches, riding the momentum of a breakthrough title at Cincinnati.
As good as Williams’ serve is, it’s Pliskova who leads the tour in aces in 2016.
Serena Williams’ serve was broken for the first time at this year’s U.S. Open.
Right at the start of the third set, Halep held two break points at 15-40, but Williams came through to lead 1-0.
Louisa Thomas, writing in The New Yorker recently about the German’s 2016 transformation, recalled a typical Kerber breakdown that happened little more than a year ago. It happened with Murray already up two sets to one and holding a second break point at 1-all in the fourth.
The 2012 title victor at Flushing Meadows, Andy Murray, eased into the quarterfinals for the 22nd time in his past 23 majors, beating No. 22 Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 at night.
Tenth-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova brushed aside Croatian upstart Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the US Open semi-finals, the first time she has reached the final four of a Grand Slam tennis event.
Andy Murray was bothered by the chair umpire’s decision to call a let on a loud noise that came from the stadium’s speaker system and now finds himself headed to a fifth set against Kei Nishikori in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
“I knew I could play better and I kind of feel like I lost my rhythm in the second set”, said Williams, who will next face 10th seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova, a 6-2 6-2 victor over Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh, for a place in Saturday’s final.
She will take on the victor between world number one Serena Williams and world number five Simona Halep for a place in the final of the tournament.
The No. 5 Halep, the 2014 French Open runner-up, was the first seeded player Williams faced in the draw. “She kept going for her shots – she stepped it up”. Williams has won seven of their last eight meetings.
“Semis is better than quarter-finals, but they are two different things”. Murray has dropped only one set in the tournament, and del Potro has lost none.
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Yesterday, the rain threatened in the early afternoon, which can cause the USTA officials to make timely decisions as to whether or not to close the retractable roof that covers the Arthur Ashe center court.
