AKIPRESS.COM - For the second year in a row, Serena Williams' bid to make history ended with a shocking loss in the U.S. Open to big-serving Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic on Thursday night, CBC Sports reported.

A seventh title at Flushing Meadows, which would have been an Open-era record, will have to wait. So will a 23rd Grand Slam championship, another record. And her 3½-year reign at number one in the WTA rankings is over, too, one week shy of what would have been yet another mark.

"Karolina played great today. I think if she had played any less, then maybe I would have had a chance," Williams said. "So I think I wasn't at 100 percent, but I also think she played well. She deserved to win today."

At the 2015 U.S. Open, Williams' bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam ended when she lost in the semifinals to unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy in one of the biggest surprises in tennis history. This one goes pretty high on the list, too.

This was the 33rd major semifinal of Williams' career, and the first for Pliskova, who beat the 34-year-old American's older sister Venus in the fourth round after staving off a match point. Pliskova is only the fourth woman to beat both Williams siblings during the same Slam.

"Obviously, the match with Venus helped me... not only with the game, but also with the crowd," Pliskova said. "Was my first match on center court."

And to think: The 24-year-old Pliskova had never been past the third round in 17 previous appearances at majors.