Whereas the American was defeated by crafty veteran Roberta Vinci 12 months ago to end hopes of a rare calendar-year slam, an ailing Williams lost to big-hitting Karolina Pliskova 6-2 7-6 (7-5) on Thursday in NY.
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New World No.1 Angelique Kerber marked her rise to the top of the rankings with a commanding 6-4, 6-3 win over Caroline Wozniacki to reach her first US Open final – her third major final of the year.
She now faces overcoming Angelique Kerber of Germany, who will take Serena’s number one rank, in the final as she searches for her first ever Grand Slam win.
“I had a goal today: to beat Serena”, Pliskova said in her on-court interview (h/t Greg Garber of ESPN.com).
“I will try to take the revenge against her”, said Kerber, who holds a 4-3 career edge over the big-serving Czech player.
“I don’t believe it”, Pliskova said.
Pliskova has certainly proved her mettle here, having also knocked out Venus Williams in the fourth round, but previously her success had largely come at tournaments away from the grand slams. She will be favored in Saturday’s final against Pliskova, but the two have something of a recent history.
“I was pretty calm today”, Pliskova told The Guardian.
With the two biggest hitters in women’s tennis standing across from each other the match was expected to be an explosive affair filled with booming serves.
“For me, it’s just incredible to be after Steffi the next number one player in Germany”, said Kerber, who at 28 will become the oldest player to reach number one. “I lost to her, I won”.
The No. 1 seeded Serena Williams has been kicked out of the 136th edition of US Open on September 9.
The Czech star had not made it past the third round of a Grand Slam in 17 previous attempts and admitted she was overwhelmed after her victory.
“I mean, actually, I do believe it. Yeah, it feels just great”, Kerber said after the match.
“I knew I was to play centre court one of the sisters Williams against all the people there, so I was prepared for it”.
“Obviously, she’s had a great year”, the Dane said.
At least she has the consolation of knowing her surprise run to a fifth semi-final in the city where she keeps a second home will translate to a place back in the world top 30.
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With the loss Williams will also lose her world No. 1 ranking for the first time in 186 weeks.
