Time to acknowledge it’s title or nothing for Serena Williams
10:03 pm | September 4, 2018 | Go to Source | Author:
1:48 AM ET
NEW YORK — Before dissecting her 6-4, 6-3 quarterfinal win over No. 8 Karolina Pliskova on Tuesday night, let’s pause for a moment to breathe in what Serena Williams has accomplished in the past five days in Flushing Meadows.
She handed her sister, Venus, the most lopsided loss of her season, survived a three-setter against a giant-killer who’d already unseated the No. 1 player in the world and overcame early-match jitters to beat a top-10 opponent for the first time since returning from maternity leave to secure a spot in the US Open semifinals for the 12th time in her career. In other words: It’s time to stop hedging predictions and start expecting Williams to win this tournament and tie Margaret Court’s all-time record for major wins.
“Serena’s one of the best players in the world,” Pliskova said after the match. “Doesn’t matter that she’s No. 17 or 18 now. I think she’s still the strongest. I feel like she has a big chance because the players which stayed [in the tournament], I feel like she can beat all of them.”