Australian Open 2019: This was the fourth career meeting between Serena Williams and Karolina Pliskova. (Reuters Photo)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Karolina Pliskova took 2 hours and 10 minutes to beat Serena Williams
- Pliskova and Serena are now tied 2-2 in their head-to-head record
- Pliskova had last defeated Serena in the semi-final of 2016 US Open
Serena Williams was undone by nervousness perhaps and Karolina Pliskova staged a massive comeback to beat Serena Williams 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to enter the semi-finals of the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Wednesday. Serena was looking for her 24th Grand Slam title but was stopped short by Pliskova's guile.
Karolina Pliskova fought tooth and nail to earn this victory. She had the opportunity to serve out the match in the second set but Serena fought back like she knows how to and eventually broke Pliskova twice in that set to take the match to the decider.
In the decider, Serena was rampant in the beginning firing all cylinder and broke Pliskova twice to go up 5-1.
Serving for the match, Serena found herself wanting and perhaps nervous as Pliskova found her accuracy, her spirit and her power back to break Serena and stretch the match.
From thereon, Pliskova was the dominant one, broke Serena once again to go back on serve and won 6 games in a row at the end to serve out the match and advance to her first semi-final in Melbourne.
She's done it!@KaPliskova saves four match points en route to a 6-4 4-6 7-5 victory over #Serena Williams. She's into the final 4!#GameSetMatch #AusOpen
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Pliskova will next be up against the US Open champion Naomi Osaka, who earlier beat Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1.
Ahead of the match, commentators mentioned that Pliskova has spoken to them about staying mentally positive in order to compete against Serena. She did show some frailty in the second set when she had to serve out the match but by the end, Pliskova would know she came out mentally stronger.
Pliskova's fight from being completely out of the match in the decider - a double break down - to actually getting a double break to give herself a chance and then ultimately serving out the match, shows she has come a long, long way.
Amazing scenes after @KaPliskova stuns Serena Williams. #AusOpen
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There were two things that Pliskova did best against Serena, keep her serve well and play on to extract unforced errors from the American.
Pliskova 1st serve was as high as 79 per cent by the end of the match while Serena was in 50s.
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Even though Serena hit far more winners than Pliskova, her unforced errors cost her the match. To Pliskova's 15 unforced errors, Serena had 37 and that made all the difference.
Serena was looking to match Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam title but the American will have to wait a while longer to challenge for the same again.
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