Angelique Kerber bookended her Grand Slam break-out year with a dramatic coda. Kerber becomes only the second woman to win her first two Grand Slam singles titles after turning 28, joining Li Na, who won the 2011 French Open at 29 and, three years later, the Australian Open.
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Kerber, 28, won 6-3 4-6 6-4 in NY to add the US Open to her victory at the Australian Open in January.
Angelique is against Karolina Pliskova who has a phenomenal horoscope.
24-year old Karolina Pliskova is quite a matured player. But there is a new, extraordinary force in women’s tennis in the form of Karolina Pliskova who will just make the German’s happiness short lived.
Kerber, who beat twice Wimbledon victor Petra Kvitova in the fourth round and last year’s Open runner-up Roberta Vinci in the quarters before eliminating former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the semis, is now focusing on a second slam title.
Kerber, meanwhile, was sticking to her strengths, chasing and counter-attacking, and when Pliskova double faulted to hand her set point, she converted by hunting down a drop-shot and brilliantly chipping it into the corner. But Kerber said she was exhausted after playing the Rio Olympics, where she won the silver medal.
“I found out I can play my best tennis on the biggest stages against the top players”, Pliskova said.
Kerber was suddenly on the ropes, unable to find an answer to her opponent’s power, and when Pliskova broke again at the start of the third, the favourite was not clapping her racket but flinging it into the ground.
All angles and consistency, Kerber posted an early break in the first set when she committed just two unforced errors. “I was really going for my win there and got the win, which gave me a lot of confidence”. However, Pliskova rallied in the second set and got her serve firing.
“It’s just unbelievable”, Kerber said in her on-court interview, voice breaking.
Pliskova is still riding the wave of momentum her Cincinnati triumph over Kerber sparked. The lanky Czech knocked Serena Williams – whose No. 1 status she unwittingly protected in Cincy – off her perch in the semifinals.
Pliskova has been a revelation this tournament, becoming only the fourth woman to defeat both Serena and Venus Williams in the same Grand Slam event. Azarenka won the 2012 Australian Open at age 22, then repeated the following year. She’s seven months younger than Novak Djokovic, her No. 1 counterpart on the men’s side.
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Wawrinka is 2-0 in his previous attempts, having won at the Australian Open in 2014 and at Roland Garros in 2015.
