Williams had long left Melbourne Park, a gracious loser of the Australian Open final in three high-quality sets when, for the second time in five months, she was tantalisingly in reach of drawing alongside Kerber’s compatriot and long-distance supporter, Steffi Graf, whose 22 majors in the open era are two short of Margaret Court’s record of 24.
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Having failed to serve out the match a game earlier, Kerber converted after Williams went long, and the American’s dream of achieving the Golden Calendar Slam this year, as well as her eight-match winning streak in Grand Slam finals and six-match winning streak in Australian Open finals, died with it.
Undeterred, Kerber retained her cool to break the top seed to love and surge to a 2-0 lead with a flurry of explosive forehand winners.
Kerber pulled off a big upset to beat the world number one 6-4 3-6 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.
Former champion and countryman Steffi Graf says Australian Open champion and new world No. 2 Angelique Kerber has the game to win more grand slam tournaments.
Apart from ending Germany’s 17-year major title drought since Graf’s 1999 Wimbledon triumph, Kerber will climb to a career-high No. 2 in the rankings on Monday and also bank a cheque for $3.85 million.
“I mean, every time I walk in this (press conference) room, everyone expects me to win every single match, every single day of my life”, she told her post-match press conference.
She lost in the first round past year here and said again she was “one leg in the plane for Germany” against Doi.
She lost in the semifinals at last year’s U.S. Open as she was rolling toward the sport’s first Grand Slam since 1988.
Kerber’s victory also painted a large target on her back by proving that Williams was not invincible, though she was quick to acknowledge the American’s powers were not on the wane.
So many times in the past opponents had seen Williams fall behind by a set, only to find her rhythm and dominate the last two.
Meanwhile, Williams had nothing but praise for Kerber and said her win was a testament to her positive attitude and was vindication for years of effort. “They are always believing in me”, she said. By simply keeping the ball in play she forced Serena, who looked tight from the start, to make shots which she was not able to do as consistently as usual.
Kerber is only the fourth player to conquer Williams in a grand slam final, joining the American’s older sister Venus, Russian Maria Sharapova and Australian Samantha Stosur.
And she had five service breaks – two in the first, and three in third set – against the top-ranked Williams, who hadn’t dropped a set in the previous six rounds.
Against Kerber, Williams committed 46 unforced errors to the champion’s 13 and did not maintain the same bounce she had in the semifinal.
Kerber broke her twice to wrap up the set before Williams regrouped to send the match into a decider, accompanied by screams of “C’mon!”
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Q. How many players in your careers, after the loss, have come to the other side on the court and congratulated you? “I’ve beaten her a lot”, said Williams, who had a 5-1 record against Kerber before the Melbourne final. “But I think I deserve it”. I think maybe in the past I didn’t as much.
