Angelique Kerber arrived in her first US Open final blessed with the full understanding that she was more ready for a major title than she will ever be in her career.
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Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam finalist in 2016, was already set to eclipse Serena for the No. 1 ranking come Monday morning even if she hadn’t outlasted Pliskova, the hottest player in the sport these past three weeks, for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory that played out Saturday afternoon in sweltering 90-degree heat.
She trailed by a break at 3-1 in the third set before taking five of the last six games against 10th seed Pliskova, who had not been past the third round at a major until this tournament.
This has been a cathartic, remarkable season for the 28-year-old and she made it more special still by sweeping the final eight points of the match, holding serve at love and then breaking Pliskova’s serve at love: falling to the court after the Czech’s last inside-out forehand sailed wide.
“It’s just wonderful. I won my second Grand Slam of the year and it’s the best year of my career”, Kerber said after the match.
“I found out that I could play my best tennis on the biggest stages against the top players”, said Pliskova.
She also becomes the first German US Open champion since Graf in 1996. In her next major, Kerber lost in the first round to 58th-ranked Kiki Bertens at the French Open. As Venus and Serena Williams saw first-hand, the 6-foot-1 Pliskova goes right at opponents with big, flat groundstrokes and tough-to-handle serves.
That younger generation, Navratilova said, was galvanized by Kerber’s victory over Williams in Melbourne, which was enough to spark a “collective confidence” among players long conditioned to think of Williams as unbeatable.
Early in what would become a tight test of a U.S. Open final, Angelique Kerber sprinted forward to somehow reach a drop shot and scoop a down-the-line victor that landed in a corner of the court.
The 10th-seeded Pliskova, who eliminated both Williams sisters in the tournament, is bidding for her first Grand Slam title.
She went on to stun Serena Williams in the final, though that achievement wasn’t easy to handle at first.
She was also runner-up to Serena at Wimbledon and has led the WTA Tour in match wins this season.
“I can not play 30 times across the net”. “Usually in years past she gets more caught out in the first week, not the second week”. But a defeat in the final hampered her chances and extended the American’s stay at the top. Kerber finally prevailed 6-3 4-6 6-4.
“I’m really trying to play more intense when I practice … and spending a lot of hours as well in the gym or just making a lot of sprints and movement”.
Newly minted world number one tennis star Angelique Kerber has miles to go before she consolidates her position. Williams beat Kerber for the title at Wimbledon. Muguraza played some fearless, powerful tennis that day, but hasn’t been able to back it up much since. Then I won round by round and I was trying to enjoy the tennis. But Kerber broke her back in the sixth game. I did everything this year.
“With Angie, you can not wait for mistakes”, Pliskova said.
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“I think it’s a nice change”, said Pliskova, as you might expect. I was just being patient and was working really hard.
