US Open 2016: Karolina Pliskova knocks out Venus Williams in three-set thriller

ByTom Bennett

Updated 05/09/2016 at 22:53 GMT

Karolina Pliskova came from one set down to knock Venus Williams out of the US Open and end hopes of a Williams sisters semi-final later in the week.

Williams had looked on course for a comfortable straight sets win when she breezed into a one-set lead six games to four.

But Pliskova found a way to combat Venus’ game in the second set, producing two consecutive breaks of serve to force a third and deciding set.

Highlights: Venus blows match point in Pliskova defeat

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World number 11 Pliskova had three match points on serve to seal the match, but double-faulted on the first and went on to lose the game and require a tie-break to progress to the quarter-finals 4-6 6-4 7-6.

Pliskova thought she'd won the match a point early, only for Venus to have a line call overturned with her opponent already halfway into her celebrations.

But the underdog (in the eyes of the crowd at least) kept her nerve to take the tie-break 7-3 and progress to the quarter-finals, where she'll face either Ana Konjuh or Agnieszka Radwanska.

"That was the biggest stage that I've played," Pliskova said after the match. "In the States, obviously against 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."

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