NEW YORK, NY, USA – No.10 seed Karolina Pliskova is into her first Grand Slam semifinal after a commanding victory over 18-year-old Ana Konjuh at the US Open.
Both were making their Grand Slam quarterfinal debut – in fact, neither had been past the third round at any Slam before the fortnight – but experience won out for Pliskova, who had little trouble moving past Konjuh in the 57-minute, 6-2, 6-2 romp.
“I was kind of nervous this morning, before the match,” Pliskova said of playing in her first major quarterfinal. “But always when I get on the court I just forget about everything and I’m not nervous anymore.”
“And I’m just trying to play tennis. Maybe I will think about all what I have been playing last few weeks after the tournament, but right now I just don’t want to, you know, put it in too much inside me. I just want to play.”
The victory is especially affirming for the Czech, who’s been a dangerous player at the WTA level for the past two years since her breakthrough, but could never translate that big game onto the big stage.
“To be honest, the Grand Slams before, I wasn’t feeling bad in any of them,” Pliskova said after her third round press conference, the first time ever she’d reached the second week of a Slam. “But just somehow the game on the court wasn’t the way I wanted it to be.
“I was just a little bit tight, I wasn’t playing my tennis, wasn’t aggressive enough. If I’m not playing my game, I cannot beat those players like this. I cannot be the one who is running.”
Pliskova didn’t need to do much running against Konjuh, the lowest-ranked and youngest player in the quarterfinals. The Czech is famous for her huge serve – in fact she’s been the WTA’s ace leader for two years – but Pliskova kept her biggest weapon reigned in. She hit just three aces, much lower than her eight-a-match average, but was still lethal on serve, winning 92 percent of points behind her first serve during the match – 100 percent in the first set.
The 18-year-old Konjuh also wields a powerful serve, which she showed off during her impressive takedown of Agnieszka Radwanska in the last round. But the Croat struggled to hold onto it against the big-hitting Pliskova, who broke her twice at the outset of the match to go up 4-0 in the first set, then twice at the end of the second.
Pliskova closed out the match with back-to-back aces to reach her first Grand Slam semifinals.
Despite the one-sided loss, Konjuh only takes the positives away from her Grand Slam experience.
“You know, I cannot be sad after all of this,” Konjuh reflected in her post-match press conference. “Good luck to her. She’s having great season so far, and, you know, I’m cheering for her.”
“But overall, I’m happy with my results here. When I came here I could only imagine playing the quarters. I think it’s been a great tournament.”
Pliskova awaits the winner in the night match between Serena Williams and Simona Halep to play for a spot in the final.
