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New York - Karolina Pliskova claimed it was harder to beat
Venus Williams than it was to stun Serena Williams to make the US Open final on
Thursday.
The 10th seeded Czech clinched a famous 6-2, 7-6 (7/5)
semi-final win to reach her first Grand Slam final, ending Serena's hopes of
winning a record 23rd major and knocking the American off the top of the world
rankings as a result.
The 24-year-old Pliskova also became just the fourth player
to beat both Williams sisters at the same Slam after Justine Henin, Kim
Clijsters and Martina Hingis.
But she believes she laid the foundations for her shock
semi-final victory by saving a match point in her gruelling three-set win over
Venus in the fourth round.
"To beat Serena, she's world No 1, so it's always tough
to beat someone like this. She's never giving up. Even if she's losing, not
playing her best, it's always tough to beat girls like this," said
Pliskova.
"But I would say it was a little bit tougher to play
Venus because obviously I was match point down and she was serving much better
than Serena was tonight.
"Even my game I think was a little bit better against
Venus. Everyone is gonna say it's amazing win tonight. But both matches were
very good."
Pliskova, the first Czech woman in the US Open final since Helena Sukova in 1994, will face either new world number one Angelique Kerber or Caroline Wozniacki in Saturday's final.
