NEW YORK _ At her best, Serena Williams is the most dominant female tennis player on the planet. Her mixture of power and touch, along with her long and intimidating resume, permits her to dominate her peers.
But Williams was far from her best on Thursday night at the U.S. Open, facing an opponent, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who also brings a heavy game to the court. Pliskova, who earlier in the tournament eliminated Serena's older sister, Venus, in the fourth round, leads the tour in aces this year in a breakout season.
Pliskova painted lines and consistently went for broke and only started to falter briefly in the second set when the realization presumably dawned on her that she could beat the No. 1 player. She hit the reset button in a dramatic second-set tiebreaker and eliminated Williams, 6-2, 7-6 (5), in the semifinals, winning in 1 hour, 26 minutes. Williams double-faulted on match point.
"Probably America hates me because I beat both Williams sisters," said Pliskova in an interview with ESPN.
Williams, who was attempting to win her 23rd Grand Slam singles championship and seventh U.S. Open title, was playing the night session on back-to-back nights and at times, looked fatigued and frustrated. She started the match with an ace, held easily in the first game, but it was pretty much a struggle after that.
Serena confirmed in her post-match interview that she had been dealing with an injured left knee since the second or third round and it curtailed her movement. She was adamant that fatigue was not a factor, having gone three sets against Simona Halep of Romania in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night.
"I definitely wasn't tired," Williams said. "It wasn't a five-hour match."
The loss created a change at the top. By falling in the semifinals, Williams will lose the No. 1 ranking, which she has held for 186 consecutive weeks. Angelique Kerber of Germany will become the new No. 1 when the tour rankings are released Monday. The second-seeded Kerber played Caroline Wozniacki in the second semifinal on Thursday night.
