NEW YORK -- Venus Williams stood on the floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday afternoon with a guttural roar rising all around her. The racket dangled loosely in her right hand alongside her thigh, a sheen of perspiration on her upturned face. She savored the approval of the crowd and took a moment to drink it all in, having just arrived at match point late in the third set of her fourth-round dispute with US Open No. 10 seed Karolina Pliskova.Across the net, Pliskova felt very lonely.But at least I have my serve, she remembered thinking. So at least something was on my side. I was just thinking, I have to go. I have to put everything into this point. And yeah, I made it.Dismissing the match point enabled Pliskova to hold serve for 5-all in the final set, and from there, she went on to win the 2-hour, 24-minute barnburner 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3).The match will be remembered by many spectators as a heartbreaker and the long moment when a courageous, boundary-shattering, exemplary woman and uber-athlete of 36 was denied a thoroughly deserved win. It will seem to some that justice, even if only the poetic variety, was not served.But looking at it that way is the real injustice, and Williams would be the first to tell you that. She had a wonderful time. She acquitted herself beautifully in her own eyes. The love showered upon her by the crowd was inspirational. She said, It was a high-, high-quality match. Its such an amazing feeling. I enjoyed every single moment of that.Pliskova arrived in New York with a hot hand, having logged back-to-back wins over No. 3 Garbine Muguruza and No. 2 Angelique Kerber in winning Cincinnati. But she was carrying some heavy baggage too, in the form of a growing reputation as a Grand Slam underachiever. Ranked No. 11 (and as high as No. 7 in the past), Pliskova was the only member of the top 20 who had not been as far as the fourth round at a major. Her record at Grand Slams before the Williams match: 16-17.The first two women Pliskova had beaten had an average ranking of No. 217. Williams had two US Open titles and a 74-14 record at Flushing Meadows. Speculating on what she might do to Pliskova in the cauldron of Ashe was an ugly enterprise.But one counterintuitive factor escaped everyones attention: In many of the ways that count, the 36-year-old Williams and the 24-year-old from the Czech Republic are mirror images. It was suggested in their previous meeting. They played in Zhuhai, where Williams won in just more than two grueling hours 7-5, 7-6 (6).Like Williams, Pliskova is a lean 6-foot-1. The engine driving her game is a big serve. (They cracked eight aces apiece in Mondays match.) Pliskova leads the WTA Tour in aces. Williams and Pliskova both whale on the ball off the ground, looking to force the action, open the court and create an opportunity to move forward. Each of them is a glutton for pace, giving and taking it with gusto. Williams might be the greater athlete, but age is a great leveler.The similarity between the women also might explain why the match was played in such an air of poise and dignity. Both women wore their hair pulled back and out of the way. They wore understated tennis dresses. Neither of them indulged in fist-pumping or emotional outbursts, even in the most pumped-up or emotional moments.The factors holding Pliskova back have been largely mental; the one quality she doesnt share with Williams is that basic champions cocktail of will, talent and confidence. But she might be getting there. The win Monday certainly shatters memories of numerous Grand Slam embarrassments from the past.Yeah, I hope they will stop [talking about my Grand Slam failures], Pliskova said. Even if they will discuss in the future, I dont care.Its a reasonable stance, given how this match played out. Pliskova started slowly. She spotted Williams the first set after falling behind 3-0. It looked like a blowout might be in the works when Williams went ahead 3-1 in the second set, but Pliskova broke right back, and from that point, it was game on. Her own serve improved, and Williams began making errors off the ground.Still, Williams reached match point at 4-5, 30-40 in the third set. While the crowd roared, Pliskova held counsel with her serve and then decided to go to the forehand. She tagged a good one. Williams belted it back. Pliskova hammered out a sharp reply and moved in to finish the point with a forehand volley.The threat was neutralized, and Williams was never again in position to win. But she had no regrets about how the match point played out.She had a great serve. She hit another great shot, and I still played a great defensive shot, Williams said. I did the best I could on that. Whenever you have a match point on someone elses serve, its a little bit of an asterisk. I really have no regrets on that.Indeed, Williams had no reason to regret anything -- not on this day, not in this tournament and perhaps not in her career. That career, incidentally, is still a work in progress. Williams said so, and Pliskova endorsed her desire to continue.I still have the feeling she can play for so many years because shes moving so well, Pliskova said. I remember her. I was [a] little girl watching her, obviously Serena, on TV. They are still playing. They are still playing the best tennis ever. Its amazing. Carlos Salcedo Jersey . 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Sri Lanka fast bowler Suranga Lakmal has been fined 50% of his match fee for an incident involving Zimbabwe opener Chamu Chibhabha during Mondays washout. According to an ICC release, Lakmal dangerously threw the ball back at Chibhabha at the strikers end in the second over of play, in breach of article 2.1.1 of the ICC code of conduct.In addition to the fine, Lakmal was handed two demerit points; a player who gets four demerit points in a 24-month period will receive a ban of one Test, or two ODIs, or two T20s, based on his teams schedule.The incident happened during the second over of the match when Lakmal dangerously threw the ball back at Zimbabwe opener Chamu Chibhabha at the strikers end when the batsman had sttayed in his crease after playing a shot and was not attempting a run, the ICC release said.dddddddddddd The throw missed the batsman and went to the wicketkeeper, but such a reaction from the bowler was deemed as contrary to the spirit of the game.Only 13.3 overs were possible in the game, due to rain, after which the charged was levelled against Lakmal by the four officiating umpires, Michael Gough, Langton Rusere, Richard Illingworth and Jeremiah Matibiri. Lakmal pleaded guilty, and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Javagal Srinath, meaning there was no need for a hearing. ' ' '