Tomljanovic defeated Williams in the US Open third round.
Ajla Tomljanovic admitted she was “a little scared” that she came off on the wrong way after ending Serena Williams’ career at the US Open. On Friday, Tomljanovic defeated Williams 7-5 6-7 (4) 6-1 in their first meeting.
Williams was playing her final tournament and her career ended following a defeat to Tomljanovic. During and after the match, Tomljanovic tried to keep it as respectful as possible toward Williams. “I was a little scared that I came off in a different way, then I read a lot of stuff where I was in a positive light, I was described as, which felt really nice,” Tomljanovic said.
“All I wanted to do in that match was just respect Serena [Williams’] legacy, but at the same time I wanted to win. For that to come off that way, I was happy about that.”
Tomljanovic beat Liudmila Samsonova after defeating Williams
After beating Williams, Tomljanovic clinched another notable win.
On Sunday, Tomljanovic defeated Samsonova 7-6 (8) 6-1 to progress into her first US Open quarterfinal. Samsonova, who won Washington and Cleveland leading up to the US Open, was on a 13-match winning streak before losing to Tomljanovic.
“It’s been a little tough just because a lot of people came up to me personally, you know, said what they said. That felt really nice. At the same time it did drain my energy a little bit,” Tomljanovic added. “But I think my will to go further in this tournament was really strong and I didn’t want to stop just after what happened on Friday night.
I thought I deserved more. I definitely wanted to go for more. I dug deep because I felt like I had more left in me.” For the first time in her career, Tomljanovic has reached back-to-back Grand Slam quarterfinals. Tomljanovic, who lost to Elena Rybakina in this year’s Wimbledon quarterfinal, plays Ons Jabeur in the US Open last-eight.
