Kerber, who had never reached a Grand Slam final until this year’s Australian Open, beat the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 here with a vivid demonstration of the great athleticism and consistent ball-striking that have taken her to the top of the world rankings.
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ON THIS DATE (Sept. 11, 1977): Guillermo Vilas beat Jimmy Connors 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-0 to win the men’s singles title in the last U.S. Open match played in Forest Hills. Had someone run a survey a year ago asking fans to pick the player most likely to succeed Serena Williams as No. 1 in the WTA, it’s highly unlikely that many would have chosen Kerber.
With Serena Williams losing tonight, the 28 year-old Kerber becomes the oldest player to first obtain No. 1 status and she is also the first German since Steffi Graf graced the courts back in the last 1980s.
The element of surprise just might be Kerber’s best weapon.
“Everything started here in 2011, and now I’m here in 2016 and I’m standing with the trophy, second grand slam trophy, and it means so much to me”.
“It’s the best year in my career and actually just incredible”.
“I lost a lot of matches with this stuff, because I was frustrated”.
The “next time” has arrived, with a grand slam crown now at stake.
“All my dreams came true today and I am just trying to enjoy the moment”.
She will be playing Pliskova, a big server, who picked apart an injured Williams. This is a woman who, at the outset of 2016, was ranked a solid but unthreatening No. 10.
“I was trying to be more positive than I was the last few years, because I know that the body language is really important”, she said.
Kerber quickly seized the advantage by breaking Pliskova, showing some nerves in her first grand slam final, in the opening game at 30 with a sizzling forehand victor.
Kerber fell to the court on a first match point when Pliskova’s forehand – which was inconsistent throughout – sailed both wide and long. When Pliskova served at 3-5 and 30-30, a double fault took Kerber to set point, which the German took with a forehand victor down the line.
Pliskova had been aggressive against Williams, shortening the rallies with aggression from the baseline but her groundshots were too cautious early on.
When she won her first 12 sets at this U.S. Open and got to her third Grand Slam final in nine months, she came across an onrushing player in Pliskova. She took advantage of a shaky Pliskova to get back level, with a pivotal game following at 3-3. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka; Women’s Doubles Final: No. 1 Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic vs.
Kerber trailed 0-30, got to 30-30, then executed a high-risk forehand down the line. Suddenly up 4-3 in the set, Pliskova turned to her coach up in the stands and yelled, pumping her fists. Kerber got broken early in the third and bounced her racket off the court.
“I don’t know what you want to hear”, Kerber said with a smile, graciously deflecting the question with the same ease she shows in blasting a forehand back at an opponent.
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Pliskova was always threatening on the Kerber serve, without breaking through, and the pattern continued early in the second.
