Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic has etched her name in history by becoming the last person to beat Serena Williams at the US Open after the 23-time major winner indicated that her career is over.
Tomljanovic battled past both Serena and a vociferous crowd to win 7-5, 6-7,6-1.
After absorbing two sets which failed to separate the two, things kicked off in the final when Tomljanovic broke Serena early and carried that to a 5-1 lead. But while serving for the match, Ajla Tomljanovic ran into a vintage Serena Williams who used every ounce of her willpower to stave off defeat.
Feeding off of a crowd that had helped her achieve an improbable win in the last round, the American managed to save 5 match points during Tomljanovic’s service game which went for over 14 minutes before finally succumbing to defeat.
Serena has hinted that this was her last tournament but never fully confirmed it even during the on-court interview.
Meanwhile, Tunisian fifth seed Ons Jabeur beat hometown hope, Shelby Rogers 4-6 6-4 6-3 at the US Open to reach the fourth round of the tournament for the first time.
The Wimbledon finalist had a shaky start, failing to capitalise on breakpoints before finding her rhythm in the second set. The Tunisian raced to a 4-0 lead in the decider before the American fought back only to err in important moments once again to hand the win to Jabeur.
Caroline Garcia, Alison Riske, Coco Gauff, Karolína Plíšková and Danielle Collins also reached the next round.
