Kerber would have overtaken Williams for the top spot had she defeated Pliskova in the Cincinnati final August 21.
Advertisement
For Serena Williams, it could have been any of those reasons – or all – but none of those changed the fact that Thursday night at the U.S Open, the world No. 1 lost for the second straight year here in the semifinals, just two matches from history.
Williams would have broken Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles by winning the tournament here.
First new World No. 1 since 2012.
This year, not so obvious at all, though the defeated 34-year-old’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou left no doubt Williams was barely fit to compete after suffering a left knee injury late in Wednesday’s demanding three-set victory over Simona Halep.
Pliskova has one of the best serves in the women’s game – she has hit more aces (446 from 55 matches) on the women’s tour this year than any other player – and conceded only six points on her first serve in the whole match. “If I can’t turn around after 24 hours and play again, then I shouldn’t be on tour”, she said.
What it did – what it does – is remind us one more time that Superwoman is only human, after all.
Injuries and inconsistency have derailed her progress since but reaching a first grand slam semi-final since 2014 could prompt a return to form next year.
Pliskova had never gone past the third round of a major tournament before and insists Williams’ injury does not take the gloss off her achievement. Williams had been undone in Queens by the stifling pressure of chasing the Grand Slam.
“If I’m not used to playing this much then I really should think of something different”. I hope I didn’t stop yet, that there is still one more step to go. But her failure to make the final means Germany’s Angelique Kerber will seize the top spot. “Yeah, it feels just great”, Kerber said after the match.
“I definitely was not beat up after my quarterfinal match”.
“Yeah, I have been having some serious left knee problems”, Williams said.
German Angelique Kerber becomes new world No.1 and celebrates by beating Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4 6-3 to reach final. “It would be not be a good thing if I just kept on looking at her to see if she’s injured or not”. Since the start of the grass-court season she has won 23 of her 27 matches and she is now on an 11-match winning run.
But the 28-year-old German knew she couldn’t afford to celebrate just yet.
“There was no match”, he said to a handful of reporters outside the players’ lounge only 10 minutes after it had ended.
Advertisement
Still, Pliskova surely had a lot to do with Williams’ woes. I had much more belief in my game. “She has a big serve”. “Her priority is to win Grand Slams”. And when they engaged in lengthy baseline exchanges, Pliskova’s deep, flat groundstrokes were able to produce the rare sight of Williams back on her heels. Williams yelled out, “Ai-yai-yai!” and slapped her left thigh. Then came Williams, never one to back down, going ahead 5-4, two points from forcing a third set. But she wouldn’t take another point, closing the surprising loss with another double-fault, leaving Flushing Meadows with another disappointment.
