But Williams roared back, breaking Pliskova at love in the next game, beginning a stretch of winning 9 of 11 games and taking complete command of the match before her late collapse.
Pliskova, whose appearance in the 2016 United States Open final was her only previous major title match, has won two of her previous three matches against Osaka. She most recently beat her 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the WTA tournament in Tokyo in September.
Osaka, 21, will be seeking a second straight Grand Slam title. She reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over the sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina.
Osaka, who had never reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam before her triumph in New York last fall, said she was keeping this accomplishment in perspective.
“To be here is something that a lot of people want, and I know that a few months ago I would have given anything to be in the semifinals of a slam,” Osaka said. “But it’s this weird feeling of: You want to do the next big thing. And especially now that I won a Grand Slam, and I feel like I want to win another one, and I’m so close and I just want to keep going.”
Osaka and Kvitova could each claim the No. 1 ranking for the first time if they win the tournament on Saturday. After pulling herself from the brink of defeat, Pliskova also has a chance to return to the No. 1 ranking with a victory, even if she had begun to count herself out of the tournament when she was one point from defeat.
“My mind was in the locker room,” Pliskova said. “I was still here.”
For Williams, who has the trophy as her goal every time she arrives at a Grand Slam event, her quest to match Margaret Court’s 24 singles Grand Slam titles will resume at the French Open in May.
”I mean, the big picture for me is always winning,” Williams said. “I’m not going to sit here and lie about that. It hasn’t happened yet, but I feel like it’s going to happen. Just keep taking it one match at a time, just keep soldiering on, I guess.”
The post Serena Williams Falls to Karolina Pliskova With Late Collapse appeared first on Viral Trending Content.
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