Serena Williams' potential swansong helps set single-day US Open attendance record
Serena Williams' third-round match against Ajla Tomljanovic helped set a new single-day attendance record at the US Open. A total of 72,039 fans were in attendance at the USTA Billie Jean King Center to watch Day 6 of the Grand Slam.
On Friday, 42,202 people attended the day session while 29,837 came to watch the night session, which featured Williams' match against Ajla Tomljanovic. 23,859 fans were in attendance at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, which was a sellout. The remaining 5,978 had tickets to the Louis Armstrong Stadium.
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Serena Williams lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in third round of 2022 US Open
Serena Williams' journey at the US Open came to an end as she was beaten by Ajla Tomljanovic in a thrilling match that lasted 3 hours and seven minutes.
The opening set was tightly contested with several breaks being made before the Aussie won it 7-5. Serena fought back in the second set and took a 4-0 lead. Tomljanovic saved a few set points and took the set to a tiebreak. However, she won it 7-4 to take the match into a decider.
The Australian dominated the decider and took it 6-1 to win the match and book her place in the fourth round of the US Open.
A match we will never forget.
Ajla Tomljanovic defeats Serena Williams in three sets. https://t.co/l4Bf3ruWqR
After the match, Williams said that she had a great week and was very grateful for all the support she got.
"Well, I'll just talk about my journey today," the 40-year-old said. "It was some really great moments today. Not today, but this week, has been really great. Just so much support, so much love. It was really amazing and overwhelming. So grateful for it. I am so grateful for it. And I just feel like, you know, the whole crowd was really wanting to push me past the line. I'm so thankful and grateful for that."
Serena might be out of her final Grand Slam appearance but she did produce some very good tennis in all three of her matches at Flushing Meadows.
After beating Williams, the Aussie will face Liudmila Samsonova in the fourth round of the US Open. The winner of the match will take on either Ons Jabeur or Veronika Kudermetova in the quarterfinals.