Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s his match report from Pliskova’s semi-final upset of Serena Williams.
Karolina Pliskova, the big-serving Czech who had already brushed aside a mounting reputation as a grand slam underachiever by making it to the US Open semi-finals, delivered a stunning display of power and composure to overwhelm top seed Serena Williams in the upset of the tournament on Thursday night.
An eerie hush fell over Arthur Ashe Stadium after Williams double-faulted on match point in the second-set tiebreaker, closing the show at 6-2, 7-6 (5) and ensuring Pliskova’s shock passage into Saturday’s final after 86 minutes. The outcome cost Williams not only a chance at a history-making 23rd grand slam title to eclipse Steffi Graf’s professional-era mark for major championships but also the No1 ranking that she’s held since February 2013 – a span of 186 weeks that equaled Graf’s record for consecutive weeks on top.
It marks the second straight year Williams has fallen at the penultimate hurdle in a bid for history at the season-ending major. Last September, a three-set loss to the unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci torpedoed her challenge for a calendar-year grand slam. On Thursday, the saboteur was a slender Czech all but unknown to casual observers due to her chronic underperformance in the early rounds of the sport’s four bedrock tournaments. Until now.
.png?w=600)
