Ajla Tomljanovic beats Serena Williams in her final match

Ajla Tomljanovic (Rob Keating, Wikimedia Commons)

It was an electric evening for Australian tennis from Flushing Meadows, New York on Friday in prime time. In women’s third round action at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Ajla Tomljanovic of Brisbane knocked out Serena Williams of the United States 7-5, 6-7, 6-1. In men’s third round action at Louis Armstrong Stadium, Nick Kyrgios of Canberra knocked out J.J. Wolf of the United States, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

Tomljanovic’s victory over Williams will go down as memorable because this will end up being Williams’s final match. The 23-time grand slam champion announced her plans to retire during the National Bank Open in Toronto, Canada last month.

In the three-set match, extremely sloppy play from Williams was her downfall. She had 51 unforced errors, compared to only 30 for Tomljanovic. In the final set, Williams was completely dominated by Tomljanovic, who won six of the seven games.

One may question why Serena Williams decided to play women’s doubles the night before with her sister Venus Williams. They lost that match, to the Czech duo of Linda Noskova and Lucie Hradecka, 7-6, 6-4. The fact that Serena Williams decided to enter singles and doubles, could have played a role in the fact she struggled in the deciding set in her third round match against Tomljanovic on Friday.

Tomljanovic will next play Ludmilla Samsonova of Russia in the fourth round on Sunday. Head-to-head, they have won one match each.

In Kyrgios’s win over Wolf, Kyrgios had 21 aces, compared to only six for Wolf. Kyrgios will next play world number one Daniil Medvedev of Russia on Sunday. Kyrgios has won three of four prior meetings including a three-set win over Medvedev in the second round of the 2022 National Bank Open in Montreal, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

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