“I’m really excited to be there and really excited to be in a Grand Slam final for first time in my life”.
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Kerber has kept in close touch with Graf and says she received a text from her before her latest success. At 4-4, it still looked like anyone’s trophy, but Kerber is not the same player who once routinely found a way to crack under deep third-set pressure. She also picked up a winner’s check worth $3.5 million. Kerber won the match when Pliskova hit a forehand wide. Sadly enough for her though, the suspense will have to continue into next year.
“Definitely it was about those last two, three weeks that I have played here”.
Kerber already was assured of making her debut at No. 1 in the WTA rankings on Monday, ending Serena Williams’ record-tying 186-week stay at the top.
Pliskova, just the fourth player to beat both Serena and Venus Williams in the same Slam, will rely on her formidable serve.
“Everyone was talking to me that you can win a grand slam”, Pliskova told media members on Thursday. She’s never giving up. She achieved the feat by defeating the top seed Serena Williams in the final.
Her serve is a weakness: She was broken while serving for the match against Wozniacki, for example, and lost three service games in the first set alone of her quarterfinal against 2015 runner-up Roberta Vinci.
“It’s incredible to be in the final and to be the world number one, it’s a great day”, said Kerber who has made the final without dropping a set.
“How I was dealing with the pressure when I came here and everybody was asking me about the number one, this is what I was trying to improve”, said Kerber, who was denied in her first bid to supplant Williams when she lost to Pliskova in the Cincinnati final before the US Open. She’s one win away from her second major title.
Her powerful groundstrokes had Kerber on the run at times, but her 47 unforced errors were, finally, too much to overcome despite her 40 winners.
Serena will now have to wait until January 2017 to pursue her 23rd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
World class player Serena Williams faced big heat in US Open semifinals.
Pliskova, 24, had never been beyond the third round at a major before, but her run in NY included wins over both Williams sisters.
Men’s Doubles Final: Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beat Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-3 to win their second Grand Slam title of the year.
Maragret Court holds the record with 24 titles.
Kerber and Graf have become friends in recent years and they spent some time practising together in Las Vegas at the end of last season.
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“I got a few texts, but that just made me feel worse”, Wozniacki said later.
