US Open 2018: Three talking points from Day 9

#2 Serena inches closer to 24th as Stephens exits

Pliskova (left) and Serena shake hands after the match

While one legend hogged the limelight, another legend quietly made her way through to the semi-finals of the US Open in a comparatively undramatic fashion. Serena Williams, a six-time champion at the Flushing Meadows, is very much looking hungry to add her first title at the Big Apple since 2014.

In a rematch of the 2016 semi-finals, Williams avenged her defeat to the eighth seeded Karolina Pliskova with a 6-4, 6-3 win. The former World No. 1, now ranked 26th, made a slow start and quickly went down 2-4.

But, for the umpteenth time, she was able to flip a switch inside her and summon her fighting qualities again. She rode on that to win the next eight games while the big-serving Pliskova could only marvel at her opponent’s shots.

Serena slammed shut the match with 35 winners and 13 aces to earn her first top 10 win of the year. Having failed to cross the final hurdle at Wimbledon, Williams certainly looks all set to go one better in front of her home crowd.

While Serena did not have a lot of trouble, another former champion did not have the same fortunes. A year after being crowned the winner on the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Sloane Stephens’s title defence came to a grinding halt as she was knocked out 2-6, 3-6 by Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova.

After staring at a set and a break down, the American did break back. However, her joy was short-lived as she failed to sustain the momentum and Sevastova promptly made use of her chances to make her maiden Slam semi-final.

Stephens later on revealed that she had been suffering from a viral infection since the start of the US Open.