Karolina Pliskova crashed the US Open final weekend party, toppling world No. 1 Serena Williams, 6-2, 7-6, in Thursday night’s semifinals to silence a partisan Arthur Ashe stadium crowd.
“It’s amazing to beat a player like this, “said Pliskova. “I don’t believe it.”
This has been a breakthrough Grand Slam for the lanky 10th-seeded Czech, who now awaits the winner of the late semifinal between second-seeded Angelique Kerber and unseeded Caroline Wozniacki in what will be her first major final on Saturday.
“I don’t care who is in the final," said the 24-year-old, the first Czech to reach the women's singles final since Helena Sukova lost in 1993 to Steffi Graf.
It is the second stunning consecutive semifinal exit for Williams, and the second with history on the line. Last year, she needed just two more wins to complete a year Grand Slam before being surprised by unseeded Roberta Vinci.
This time, again, Williams lost more than just a semifinal. With the defeat, she will yield the world No. 1 ranking to Kerber after a 186-week reign. At this year's Open, she was also bidding for her 23rd career Grand Slam singles title, which would haven broken a tie with Steffi Graf for most in the Open era, and her seventh US Open singles crown, which would have moved her ahead of Chris Evert for the most in the Open era and into tie with Helen Wills for second on the all-time list, one behind the eight titles Molla Bjurstedt Mallory win in the early 1900s.
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