Tenth seed Karolina Pliskova experienced little difficulty during her one-sided 6-2, 6-2, win over 18-year-old Croat Ana Konjuh.
In an encounter where both players were playing in their first major quarter-final, is soon became apparent that the Czech was the main force in the match against a weary and tentative Konjuh. Breaking twice at the start of the match, Pliskova was seeing the ball like a football as her rival struggled to reproduce the form which knocked Agnieszka Radwanska out of the previous round.
Part of Pliskova’s dominance was due to her fierce serve, where she dropped just five points in her service games throughout the entire match. During the opening set she won 100% of her first service points, turning Konjuh’s experience on the Arthur Ashe court into one to forget.
“It’s an amazing feeling, I’m so excited to be in my first grand slam semifinal.” Pliskova said during her on court interview.
“I think I played a very good match today.”
Wednesday’s straightforward win wasn’t all to do with Pliskova’s supremacy, it was also due to her benefiting from her opponents costly 27 unforced errors and four double faults. It was a disappointing outcome for the Croat’s camp after her encouraging displayed earlier in the week in New York.
“Ana is a great player and I think she can do better.” Pliskova said about her rival.”We will hear (more) about in the future for sure.”
Pliskova now finds herself on a ten-match winning streak after recently claiming the Cincinnati Open title, where she defeated Angelique Kerber in the final. It is a dream run for any player entering a major tournament, but the grounded Czech is still aware that she needs to improve certain areas of her game.
“I’m still trying to work on my movement, which is not great, but it is still improving. It is slowly improving, that’s for sure.” She said.
In the last four Pliskova will play either top seed Serena Williams or Simona Halep, who will battle each other during the night session.
“I’m going to watch tonight’s match for sure – I always watch the night session matches – and will see what I can try and learn.” Pliskova said about their match.
The run is Flushing meadows come after what has been a disappointing tournament for the 24-year-old in recent years. Between 2013-2015, Pliskova could only win two matches at the US Open.
