Venus Williams went from down and out to a point from victory, then back again. In the end, she couldn't quite get past a woman a dozen years younger and never before at this stage of a Grand Slam tournament.
Williams failed to convert a match point and lost 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) to 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the fourth round of the US Open on Monday, despite vociferous support from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd down the stretch.
"I really played the perfect point there," the sixth-seeded Williams said about her chance to end things while up 5-4 in the third set, and Pliskova serving at 30-40, "and she managed to stay alive."
At 36, Williams would have been the oldest woman to reach the quarterfinals at any major since Martina Navratilova was 37 at Wimbledon in 1994.
Williams made it that far at Flushing Meadows a year ago, before losing to her younger sister Serena. This time, they had been on course for an all-in-the-family showdown in the semifinals; Serena followed Venus in Ashe and beat Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-3 in the fourth round for her 308th Grand Slam match victory, breaking a tie with Roger Federer for most in the Open era, which dates to 1968.
Pliskova managed, just barely, to make it to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at age 24. Until this tournament, she never had been past the third round in 17 appearances at majors.
"I was prepared that I'm going to play Venus — it's going to be tough, because all the people are cheering for her," said Pliskova, who leads the tour in aces in 2016 and produced eight in this match.
It took her a while to finish off this one, despite going up an early break in the third set and leading 4-2. Just as it seemed she would run away with it, Williams turned things around enough to go up 5-4 and hold a match point. But Pliskova erased that with a swinging forehand volley — the sort of shot Williams loves to hit — and followed it up with another aggressive forehand winner. Then Pliskova broke to lead 6-5 and served for the match, getting three chances to close it at 40-love. After Pliskova frittered away one with a double-fault, Williams steeled herself and stepped up, smacking a volley winner, cross-court backhand winner and two forehand winners to break back for 6-all.
"To be honest," Pliskova said, "it was really difficult ... when I lost my serve."
Somehow, though, she pulled herself together enough to get through the tiebreaker as Williams faltered. "In the 'breaker, I went for a little bit more," Williams said, "but I didn't put the ball in enough."
Radwanksa ousted
Pliskova will face 92nd-ranked Ana Konjuh, an 18-year-old from Croatia who upset No 4 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4 by compiling a 38-9 edge in winners.
Trying to serve out the biggest victory of her career, 18-year-old Konjuh was startled — right along with everyone else under the roof in Arthur Ashe Stadium — by a piercing noise coming from the US Open arena's sound system during a ball toss. The Croatian recoiled, let the ball drop and put her left hand to her chest. Once Konjuh realized nothing bad was going on, she smiled, then resumed playing, just as calm and collected as ever, and finished a 6-4, 6-4 upset of No 4 seed Radwanska on Monday night to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
"I just said to myself, 'Stay in the game. Don't rush,'" Konjuh said.