US Open: Semifinal! Serena Williams returns the favor to Karolina Pliskova

Serena Williams has reached the semi-finals of the 2018 US Open. 23-time Grand Slam winner paid back Karolina Pliskova for her defeat in 2016 and will face Anastasiya Sevastova on Thursday.

By Jens Huiber from New York City

It smoked very briefly at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a few minutes before Serena Williams and Karolina Pliskova were scheduled to enter the world’s biggest tennis arena. Artificial fog, I suppose, finely dosed. Why wouldn’t I be? Over the past two decades, no player has put on a better show than Serena, with Pliskova the American had drawn an impressive opponent.

The winner, however, was Serena Williams, who, after 6-4 and 6-3 in 88 minutes, only needed two more wins to win a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since her daughter Olympia was born.

At 7 pm the lights went out in the Ashe, Williams and Pliskova “could almost still greet the spectators with a handshake, on another very summerly September day the inclined audience almost preferred to stay at the fountain in front of the stadium until further notice.

Pliskova had the chance to continue her very personal success story against Serena: The 26-year-old is the only Czech player to date to have beaten the 23-time major winner in one of the four biggest tennis tournaments in the world.

Karolina Pliskova’s biggest weapon is her serve, the same can actually be said of Serena Williams. No wonder that the hostess decided to serve after winning a coin toss, a rather rare choice especially for the ladies. In the third duel between the two players, it was the US player who was clearly ahead of only three Pliskovas with 13 aces.

Against Kaia Kanepi Serena was untouchably started, had won the first set to zero. In the quarter-finals, on the other hand, Pliskova managed the first break to 2-1, but then missed further chances to take an even clearer lead. The eighth seeded Czech kept the lead until 4-2, Williams wins four games in a row. After 50 minutes the first set was in my pocket with 6:4.

Serena rolled over her opponent and set two breaks to 4-0. In 2016 Pliskova had been successful 6-2 and 7-6 (5), this time she regained a serve. And had four chances for a big comeback in the seventh game. Serena fought them off, acknowledging the game win with the first really loud outburst of emotion. In the final game, Serena remained untouchable, scoring her first match point with an ace.

In the semi-final, Anastasiya Sevastova is waiting for you. The Latvian defeated last year’s winner Sloane Stephens 6-2 and 6-3 in the afternoon.

Here is the women’s single tableau at the US Open 2018