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By Chris Oddo | Monday September 5, 2016

Things were falling apart quickly for No.10-seeded Karolina Pliskova on Monday during her round of 16 encounter with No. 6-seeded Venus Williams. The Czech’s break lead in the third set had fizzled, the New York crowd was rooting hard against her and she was facing match point while serving at 4-5.

No worries.

Wham. Whap. Bap! Pliskova played the perfect point on match point, depositing a drive volley into the open court that was set up by a courageous backhand. Then she ripped a forehand winner followed by a service winner to finish the game.


"I was just thinking, I have to go, I have to put everything into this point," Pliskova said. "And, yeah, I made it."

5-all.

“It was really kind of out of my hands,” said Williams. “She played the perfect point there and she managed to stay alive.”

That was just the beginning of the gripping drama that fans were treated to at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday. Williams would save three match points of her own with Pliskova serving at 6-5, 40-0 to send the match to a tiebreaker.

ESPN’s Chris Evert, caught up in the moment, said that there were so many changes in momentum in the match that there was no momentum. But it was Pliskova, momentum or not, that eventually crossed the finish line, notching a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over Williams to reach her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal.

The Czech, who struck 33 winners and eight aces on the day, earns her ninth consecutive victory, four of which have come against Top 10 opponents.

Pliskova fell behind by a set and a break to Williams but rallied to win five of the final six games to force a decider.

The 24-year-old Czech made it eight out of ten games and raced out to a 3-1 lead in set three, but Williams doubled-down the intensity and won four of five games and nearly closed the match in the next game.

It was at that point that this match went beyond the ordinary and reached into the sublime.

“Definitely a high-quality match,” said Williams. Ultimately it was Pliskova’s steadiness that took her through the tiebreaker. Williams had some issues with the forehand throughout the match, but her backhand let her down in closing moments as Pliskova earned four match points and finally closed out the victory.

“I still have to cut back on my errors,” said Williams. “But she lifted her game. Definitely a lot of credit to her for staying in there and keeping positive.”

Pliskova advances to face either Agnieszka Radwanska or Ana Konjuh in the quarterfinals. The Czech improved to 10-4 in three-setters with the win, and 37-16 on the season.

 

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