FILE - USA's Serena Williams hits a return to Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic during their 2022 US Open Tennis tournament women's singles third round match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, on Sept.
2, 2022. (COREY SIPKIN/AFP via Getty Images)NEW YORK - Serena Williams lost what is expected to be the last match of her transcendent tennis career Friday night, eliminated from the U.S.
Open in the third round by Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 before an electric crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.Unwilling to go quietly, Williams staved off five match points to prolong the three-hours-plus proceedings, as some spectators stood to watch, camera phones at the ready.
No one — save, of course, Tomljanovic — wanted this to end.It did on Tomljanovic's sixth chance, when Williams netted a shot.FILE - Serena Williams of the United States thanks the fans after being defeated by Ajla Tomlijanovic of Australia during their Women's Singles Third Round match on Day Five of the 2022 US Open. (Al Bello/Getty Images)Williams turns 41 this month and recently told the world that she is ready to start "evolving" away from her playing days — she expressed distaste for the word "retirement" — and while she has remained purposely vague about whether this appearance at Flushing Meadows definitely would represent her final tournament, everyone assumes it will be.It was treated that way Friday night, and Williams cried on court immediately afterward.