It wasn't meant to be for Serena Williams, who fell 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1 in her US Open finale.
Williams was a slight favorite heading into the match, listed around -145 while Ajla Tomljanovic was in the +120 range.
When the Aussie took the first set, she climbed to about -320 as the all-time great landed at around +240. However, things quickly changed as Williams got out to a fast second set, earning a 4-0 lead and reaching a favorite status around -160.
However, the match twisted once again and Tomljanovic clawed herself all the way back to 5-5 before taking the second set to a tiebreaker. From there, Williams gutted out a 7-4 mark to send the match the distance.
When Williams got off to a 1-0, 40-15 start in the third set, her price jumped as high as -450 before Tomljanovic gutted out four consecutive points and began to go on a tear.
Tomljanovic rattled off six games in a row and secured the historic victory, 6-1, in the third set. Of course, that wasn't before Williams saved a batch of match points via ridiculously clean ball-striking.
For a majority of sportsbooks, Williams was the public favorite. For example, she amassed 75% of the betting tickets and 79% of the handle at BetMGM.
That's not to say bettors didn't profit on the efforts she put in. Williams was a +200 underdog in the second round against Anett Kontaveit and her win cashed the 81% of the betting tickets and 58% of money that was riding on her at BetMGM.
Williams was also the public's favorite to win the event and was the biggest liability — by a wide margin — for sportsbooks.
It wasn't the storybook ending we wanted. Although Williams has made it somewhat clear she plans on retiring, she has left the door open ever-so-slightly for further play.
If this was the end of the ride, boy was it an incredible show.
Ultimately, it was classic Serena.
