“But I’ll do anything for her not to get there, if she wins (in the semifinals)”.
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“There’s a long way to go”, Kerber told Tennis.com on Tuesday.
Pliskova, the 24-year-old from the Czech Republic, has won five WTA titles, including the Aegon Nottingham Open two months ago. The most recent match was in the 2015 Stanford Open, a match Kerber won in three sets. “I’m playing like I don’t know which day. every day, it’s the same”.
“Of course it was a lot of pressure and a lot of matches I had in the last three weeks, a lot of travel around the world actually”, Kerber said after the final.
Next up for Kerber is Spain’s Carla Suárez Navarro, who beat Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1 7-5.
This is also the third straight time they have clashed in a final, following three-set victories for the German previous year in Birmingham and Stanford.
Kerber was her usual tireless self against Strycova, scurrying to extend rallies and wearing down her rival.
The Australian Open champion had to adjust from the slow hard courts in Rio to a faster hard court in Cincinnati, and the German received a bye in the first round which allowed her some extra time to rest up.
The match began just after 9:00pm and players were able to get in just one game before yet another rain delay forced players off court for just under two hours.
Good vibes should be easily accessible for Kerber in Cincinnati, as she reached the finals back in 2012 before losing to Na Li. I remember my match previous year against Azarenka where I played really good. “I think you deserve to be No. 1”, she added.
Seeing the ball huge, hitting cleanly, she took the battle to Kerber, and played her at her own game, forcing her to do the running. After winning Wimbledon and his second singles gold medal at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he flew directly to Cincinnati, developed a bad head cold, and reached the semifinals despite being worn out. He was much sharper on Saturday with only 11 unforced errors. “I was still expecting during the match some complication as always it is in tennis, but happy it went like this”.
He’s the first person outside men’s tennis’ Big Four-Murray, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic-to win a Masters 1000 event since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did so at the 2014 Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Murray is the only member of the Big Four still left, but he’s running on fumes.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career, but I’m having the best year of my career and it’s still not over”, the left-hander said.
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“Definitely yes”, Pliskova said.
