Former World No. 1 Serena Williams defeated Czech Republic’s Karolína Pliskova in straight sets to enter the semi-finals in the US Open for the tenth successive year.
The six-time US Open champion registered a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Pliskova to keep her hopes of winning a record-equaling 24th Grand Slam title alive. Pliskova had defeated Serena in the US Open semi-finals two years ago.
ALSO READ: Has Serena Williams raised the bar with her quick post pregnancy…
Williams who gave birth 367 days ago and then suffered through serious post-pregnancy complications, was in great form on Tuesday with fluid footwork.
All the feels…
💕🗽🎾@serenawilliams#USOpen pic.twitter.com/7ojWpCtddt
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2018
The US Open has seen two major upsets over the past 24 hours. On Monday night, Roger Federer lost to world No. 55 John Millman, depriving fans of a dream Federer-Novak Djokovic quarterfinal. Roughly 12 hours later, defending champion Sloane Stephens fell to Anastasija Sevastova, which erased any possibility of a long-awaited meeting between Stephens and Serena at a major. Stephens lost the quarter-final to Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova 2-6, 3-6.
ALSO READ: India to play 2 Tests, 5 ODIs and 3 T20I against…
The current World No. 26 Williams got off to a good start in the first set winning the first game, but an array of unenforced errors led to her being pegged back by the Czech in back-to-back games.
Reeling from a 2-4 position, Serena came back and won eight consecutive games to wrap up the first set and establish a 4-0 lead in the second, effectively sealing her spot in the semi-final.
The Czech rallied back into the contest to pull three games back but it wasn’t enough to prevent Williams from a straight sets victory. The American held Pliskova to love in the final game with the score at 5-3 and her 13th ace of the match wrapped up the contest. Williams will now meet Sevastova on Thursday.
In men’s singles, Argentian’s Juan Martín del Potro booked his berth in the semifinals by edging past American John Isner 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2.
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal’s quarter-final clash against Dominic Thiem of Austria is currently underway.