Pliskova eliminates nervous Serena in the US Open semis

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Wilson Blade 9

Karolina Pliskova dispatched top-ranked Serena Williams 6-2 7-6(5) in the semifinals of the 2016 US Open.

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The world No.11 Pliskova unexpectedly comfortably won the first set, straightforwardly breaking Williams’ serve in the third and seventh game, taking the set in just 26 minutes.

Williams wasn’t moving well, missed a lot of shots and her slow start extended to the beginning of the second set, as the American dropped serve in the fifth game. Afterwards, Williams finally warmed up her engines and went 40-0 on Pliskova’s serve, earning her first break points in the match. The top seed made use of her first opportunity to break and after an intense battle she held her serve in the following game to lead 4-3. Pliskova wasn’t intimidated by Williams’ recovery and continued to trouble the six-time US Open champion, consistently holding serve, leading the set to a tiebreak.

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In the tiebreak, Pliskova quickly went 3-0 up, but Serena then won four straight points, and with both players under a lot of pressure, there were some errors and brilliant shots on both sides.

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With tension growing, Pliskova hung in there, earned a match point, on which nervous Serena double-faulted, losing at the semifinal stage of the US Open for the second year in a row.

Pliskova’s opponent in the final will be the winner of the match between Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki.

1 COMMENT

  1. Ka. Pliskova has been playing well of late and she seems to have the confidence that could give her a chance against Angie in the final. But geeez, she is such a robot in her post match interviews with the monotone fast paced answers. No personality..sort of like Ivan Lendl in his day.

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