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.
