Serena Williams squandered four match points against Karolina Pliskova before crashing out of the Australian Open. The American looked bang on course for the semi-finals in Melbourne as she was 5-1 up in the deciding set, but somehow seventh seed Pliskova won the next six games to go through.
The 26-year-old will now meet Japan’s Naomi Osaka in Thursday’s semi-final and could hardly believe herself what had just happened. “I was almost in the locker room but now stand here as the winner,” said Pliskova, who reached the US Open final in 2016. “My mind was in the locker room at 5-1 down but I was still here. I was too passive and mentally down. She got a little bit shaky in the end. I took my chances and I won. “Naomi Osaka is dangerous but there is nobody more dangerous than Serena.”
Earlier in the day Osaka dominated Elina Svitolina, who was carrying a neck and shoulder injury, to win in straight sets 6-4 6-1. “I tried to be consistent or as consistent as I can be. She’s really good but unfortunately she was injured. But playing against her injured was really tough,” said Osaka. “For me, today, I had one goal – it was to try as hard as I can and not get angry. I didn’t do that well in the past two rounds, but I played well today.”
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