Reuters
New York, Sept 9: For the second straight year Serena Williams saw her bid for a seventh US Open title halted in the semifinals with a 2-6, 6-7 (5-7) loss to Karolina Pliskova here Thursday that also ended her long reign of 186 weeks as World No.1. That spot went to Angelique Kerber of Germany, who became the second German after Steffi Graf to become World. No.1
A year ago Serena went into the semifinals on the cusp of a rare calendar-year Grand Slam but was the victim of one of the biggest upsets in tennis history when Roberta Vinci, a 300-to-1 long-shot, prevailed.
This year it was Czech 10th seed Pliskova, who until this week had never played beyond the third round of a Grand Slam, delivering the upset as she swept Serena off an Arthur Ashe Stadium court she claims as her own in 86 minutes.
“I don’t believe it. Actually, I do believe it,” Pliskova said in a courtside interview. “I always knew I have a chance to beat anybody if I’m playing my game. But this is something amazing. Serena, she’s a champion, so it’s never easy to play her.”
After a punishing three-set quarterfinal against Simona Halep on the same court 24 hours earlier, Serena appeared sluggish against the towering Czech. But she refused to use fatigue as an excuse for her loss.
“Okay, I’m not going to repeat myself. I wasn’t tired from yesterday’s (Wednesday) match,” said Serena. “I have been having some serious left knee problems. I wasn’t tired. Fatigue had absolutely nothing to do with it (loss).
Serena opened the contest with an ace but in the end it was the American’s serve that ultimately let her down as she committed six double faults, including one on the deciding point in the tie-break.
Pliskova, who has led the WTA Tour in aces the last two seasons, kept the 34-year-old American under pressure almost from the start and had break chances on all but one of Serena’s service games in the first set and converted twice.
With Thursday’s victory Pliskova completed a Williams family double having also beaten Serena’s older sister, sixth-seeded Venus, in the fourth round.
Meanwhile Kerber celebrated her elevation to the top with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Caroline Wozniacki to set up her final date with Pliskova.
Australian Open champion Kerber, who leads the WTA for most main draw match wins this season at 53-14, clinched victory with a backhand that actually landed just beyond the baseline but went unchallenged by former No.1 Wozniacki.
“It’s just incredible. It’s a great day,” Kerber said on court. “To be here in the final for the first time, that means a lot. To be No.1 in the world, it sounds amazing.”
Kerber had downplayed talk about becoming No.1 but admitted it felt ‘just great’. “To be now the No.1 in the world, that was always a dream for me,” she informed.