After fighting back to within one point of a comeback victory, Serena Williams defeated in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open by No. 7 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
“I was almost in the locker room,” Pliskova told the Rod Laver Arena crowd, according to ESPN.com, “but now I’m standing here as the winner.”
Instead of Williams moving closer to an eighth championship at the Australian Open and record-tying 24th Grand Slam title overall, Pliskova who will continue her pursuit of her first major trophy.
In the semifinals, Pliskova will face No. 4-seeded Naomi Osaka, who advanced by beating No. 6 Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1 earlier Wednesday.
Information from Espn.com, SI.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
