Serena Williams – what she said

Kerber and Pliskova have faced each other seven times in the past, with Kerber holding the edge with four wins. The Australian Open champion and Wimbledon runner-up will face Williams’ conqueror, Karolina Pliskova, in the decider.

Always the perfectionist, Williams disappointingly walks away from this U.S. Open with a second-consecutive semifinal exit, having lost to Roberta Vinci in the iconic semifinal past year, so it comes as no surprise that the six-time champion is only really proud when she succeeds.

“When youre hampered youre thinking of other things, ” said the American, a six-time US Open champion. “I made a lot of errors”. I just blame that on just mentally thinking about my leg and just not thinking about the shot.”.

An eerie hush fell over Arthur Ashe Stadium after Williams double-faulted on match point in the second-set tiebreaker, closing the show at 6-2, 7-6 (5) and ensuring Pliskova’s shock passage into Saturday’s final after 86 minutes. “That’s a final of a Grand Slam, so anything is possible”. For Pliskova, a win would not only represent the biggest victory of her career, but a chance at technically besting to world No. 1 players in the same tournament, an excellent feather in her cap.

Her rise into the final also included wins over seeded players Venus Williams and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. “You saw even when she was down a break she’s still fighting so it’s very hard”.

But she was eliminated at the hands of Karolina Pliskova, the 10th seed, in the semifinals on Thursday.

“Karolina played great today. And in a double blow, when the new rankings are released Monday, the 34-year-old will lose top spot to Angelique Kerber, ending Williams’ record-tying – with Graf – 186-week stay at No. 1.

You know the young.’ But it feels that he’s the one, who needs to be more serious to prepare for the final.

Until now, the big-serving Czech, who had climbed to No 7 in the rankings last August, has been a grand slam mystery of sorts, never progressing beyond the third round in 17 main draw appearances despite boasting one of the most fearsome serves on the WTA Tour.

“I will go out there trying to get my next chance against her and take the revenge”, she said.

Wozniacki, down at 74 in the world after missing nearly three months of the season with an ankle injury, had refused on the eve of her fifth semi-final in NY to dampen speculation that she was on the brink of announcing her retirement. After saying that she didn’t feel “beaten up” after her quarterfinal match, the top seed made a decision to elaborate to take this topic out of the discussion.