NEW YORK — Karolina Pliskova ruined any chance of another Flushing Meadows sister showdown as she claimed a dramatic 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) win over sixth-seeded Venus Williams on Monday to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
At 36-years-old and the oldest remaining player in the draw, Williams battled until the bitter end as her 24-year-old Czech opponent needed five match points and nearly two-and-a-half hours in a seething Arthur Ashe Stadium to put away the twice champion.
Adding to the suspense, Williams also had a match point opportunity of her own which she failed to convert.
“You can have a few good matches but to win matches like this, it takes some time,” said Pliskova, who has developed a reputation as a grand slam under-achiever having never been beyond the third round until this year’s U.S. Open.
“You need to have experience definitely on the big stages, on the big tournaments. That was the biggest stage that I’ve played. In the States, obviously against (an) American girl, I knew it’s going to be tough.
“But I just wanted to beat her, not the crowd, (it) is impossible to beat 23,000 people.”
Since the draw was unveiled, tennis fans had circled a potential semifinal between the sport’s most famous siblings on American tennis’s biggest stage where world number one Serena and Venus have met five times, including twice in the finals.
Now it is 10th-seeded Pliskova, who will play Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska or Croatia’s Ana Konjuh in the quarters, who would need to complete a Williams double to reach her first grand slam final.
Serena, looking to continue her drive for a record seventh U.S. Open title, booked her spot in the last eight with a ruthless 6-2, 6-3 win over Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova to set up a meeting with Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep.
The match between Pliskova and Venus Williams got off to a tepid start but by the time the two players had reached the third set both had found their rhythm, elevating the contest into an engrossing battle of the highest quality.
With Pliskova serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Williams had the first chance to close out the contest but could not convert as the Czech fought back to extend the contest.
If there were any questions about how fiercely the competitive fires burn within Williams after 18 U.S. Opens, she answered them all in the 11th game.
With Pliskova up 6-5, 40-0 a fearless Williams fought off three match points to force a tie-\break.
“Just to keep fighting and never to give up,” said Williams. “That was definitely my mindset at that point. Just try to keep winning points.”
In the tie-break, Williams did not so much run out of gas as ideas against Pliskova, who came into the year’s final grand slam off the biggest victory of her career in Cincinnati, where she upset Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the final.
Even so, Pliskova would still need two more match points, Williams saving the first with the help of a challenge before she had no answer on the next.
Serena Williams, the world number one, needed just 68 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium court to overwhelm the 52nd-ranked Shvedova and move past Roger Federer to the top of the all-time grand slam victories list.
“Oh wow, it is really exciting, this is where it all started so it is always so magical out here for me but 308 sounds pretty good,” Williams said about her landmark win, after moving a step closer to a record seventh U.S. Open title.
It has been another dominating run into the last eight for the 34-year-old American, who has yet to be broken and has faced just one break point in four matches while never spending more than 68 minutes on court.
Next up for Williams is fifth seed Romanian Simona Halep, who brushed past 11th-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 7-5.
Halep, 24, was broken serving for the match at 5-4 but she broke right back, and after falling behind 0-30 in the 12th game swept the last four points in a row to end it.
Halep, who reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows last year, edged ahead in her rivalry with Suarez Navarro, now leading their head-to-head series 6-5.
“I’m really happy I could win this match. It’s really tough to beat her. I just gave everything I had,” Halep said in an on-court interview.
The in-form Halep, a three-times winner this year who owns a 23-3 record dating back to start of French Open.
“The next round will be a very tough one, so I want to enjoy this victory today,” said Halep.
Halep, winner at Madrid, Bucharest and Montreal to raise her career total to 14, said she is playing better than ever and learning to control her temper, despite tossing her racket in frustration during the match against Suarez Navarro.
In men’s action, double grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka set up a marquee quarter-final showdown with 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory over Illya Marchenko of Ukraine.
Third seed Wawrinka, winner of the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French Open, overpowered the 63rd-ranked Marchenko, who reached the fourth round when 14th-seeded Nick Kyrgios retired with a hip injury while trailing two sets to one.
Marchenko was treated twice during Monday’s match for his right knee, which was taped between the second and third sets and massaged during the third-set changeover at 2-1, but he battled on to force a fourth set.
The victory by the hard-hitting Swiss set up a clash with big-serving del Potro, who won 6-3 3-2 when eighth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria retired with a knee injury.