“I think she sent me a text message, but I don’t know what she wrote me yet”. Kerber’s one win came against Williams in 2012 at the Cincinnati Open.
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“She took out a really tough opponent in Victoria”, Serena said.
It has been an impressive response from a player who arrived with doubts surrounding her fitness and focus after her shock semi-final exit at last year’s US Open.
“Right now I don’t have pressure any more”, she said. She won the first set in 20 minutes with eighteen winners and nearly flawless net play that left Radwanska scrambling.
“I think when you ask a lot of people, I think most will say, “Okay, Serena will win”.
There is no chance of Kerber matching Serena in terms of power, but she may be able to frustrate her simply by keeping the ball in play.
Serena Williams has powered her way into her seventh Australian Open final without having dropped a set all fortnight.
Graf was the last German player to win the women’s title in Australia, in 1994, and Kerber is asking for some advice.
Getting first serves in on a consistent basis will go a long way toward accomplishing that, and if she can keep Kerber on her heels in that regard, Serena will be in ideal shape.
Serena Williams of the United States celebrates after defeating Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in their semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016.
Kerber is likely to allow Serena to dictate the play, which means the onus will be on Williams to be precise and hit the lines. She s a really nice girl.
“I was just standing there kind of watching her play”, the fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska said after her 6-0, 6-4 drubbing by Williams on Thursday.
“I saw it yesterday against [Radwanska]”.
Despite saying in a post-semifinal match interview that she isn’t really thinking about the possibility of tying Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles, Williams surely has all her eyes on the prize.
KERBER ON WILLIAMS: “I have actually nothing to lose”.
Radwanska could do nothing against an opponent playing on a different level and only won seven points the entire set – four of them from unforced errors by the American.
“I didn’t really think that I was playing bad”, Radwanska, 24, told reporters.
Williams just need to stick to her aggressive service games and continue putting down the aces. I mean, I never thought I was going to go out and lose in the first round, but at the same time I never thought before, I’m going to make it to the final, or anything.
But the popular 26-year-old, who rarely shows emotion on court, added: “Hopefully I can play my best tennis or I ll be in trouble”. I feel like I could have done better in NY, ‘ she said.
Sharapova had stunned Serena to win in the Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004 and followed it with a victory in the season-ending WTA Championships.
No surprises in the women’s semifinals today as favorites Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber both advanced to Saturday final in straight sets. She’s the fourth-ranked player in the world, and she’d won three straight tournaments coming into Melbourne.
“I think it [my nerves] will be for sure better, you know, because I have nothing to lose against Serena, of course”, Kerber said.
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“I definitely block it out”, Williams said in reply to a question about equaling Graf’s mark.
