Australian Open: Serena Williams Explains Choking On Match Point

The press and media outlets were certain to have been warming up their fingers to write up some juicy pieces about the upcoming grudge match between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka in the semifinals of the Australian Open when the American was serving for the match at 5-1 up against Karolina Pliskova, but it was not to be.

In a stunning turn of events, the 23-time women’s singles Grand Slam winner lost her serve in three consecutive games and failed to convert four match points before going on to lose the quarterfinal match against the number seven seed 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

Pliskova started strong and went on to wrap up the first set in 40 minutes and was even up 3-2 in the second before Williams got going. The American broke the Czech Republic star’s serve in the sixth game and went on to win 9 of the next 11 games and was serving for the match 5-1 and 40-30 up when things began to unravel.

Williams rolled her ankle on match point and eventually surrendered her serve to allow Pliskova back into the match. She again had three match points on the Czech player’s serve at 5-3 but was unable to take advantage.

The former world number one was then broken twice in succession which saw Pliskova race into the lead at 6-5 to serve for the match, which she duly did to dump out Williams and deny the world a chance to see the American take on Osaka in the repeat of their controversial 2018 US Open women’s singles final match which the Japanese player won.

Williams did not call for the trainer after rolling her ankle while serving for the match and despite it being a turning point, she insisted after that it was not the reason for her loss. She praised Pliskova and believes the Czech player earned her victory by playing some of her best tennis, especially while facing match points in the third set.

"I think she just played well on my serve after that point. I think she just kind of started playing really, really good. I don't think it had anything to do with my ankle, per se. I just think she was just nailing and hitting shots," Williams said after her loss, as quoted on WTA.com.

"I think she just played lights out on match point, literally, hitting lines. [She] just went crazy on match point....Obviously, I made some mistakes, but she played really well after that.

"There's nothing I did wrong on those match points. I didn't do anything wrong. I stayed aggressive. She just literally hit the lines on some of them. One she hit an ace, unreturnable serve. I literally did everything I could on those match points,” the American explained. "I can't say that I choked on those match points. She literally played her best tennis ever on those shots."