There will be no fairytale ending for Serena Williams at the US Open. The 23-time major singles champion was eliminated from the tournament she has won six times with a 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 defeat to Ajla Tomljanović on Friday night before another rollicking audience of nearly 24,000 spectators at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams, who entered the tournament ranked 605th with only one match win in nearly 15 months, had rolled back the years in her first week at Flushing Meadows with a series of vintage showings beneath the lights of the world’s biggest tennis stadium.
This one, a stirring back-and-forth encounter of high intensity that unfolded over more than three hours, was somehow her most rousing performance yet.
She battered Tomljanović back with 115mph serves and flat groundstrokes that exploded off the strings. She came to net and glided about the whole court with a fluidity thought long gone and punctuated winners with guttural roars.