“It was just the next step to beat the best players”, she said.
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Kerber was appearing in her third Grand Slam final of 2016, and the German played with the authority of a world number one in waiting.
Angelique Kerber of Germany blows kisses to the crowd after her 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victor over Karolina Pliskova Saturday’s in the U.S. Open women’s final. The 24-year-old Czech upset Williams in the semifinals, as well as her sister Venus in the quarterfinals.
When Kerber proved fittest in a high-quality, two hour seven minute final with Grand Slam final debutante Karolina Pliskova, and when Kerber dug out of a 3-1, third-set deficit to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, she added to her fresh batch of newfound distinctions.
“There aren’t many left-handed girls in the top 100, so there is no time where you can practice against a lefty. I was trying to take the chance”. I will try to take this challenge, because it will be a little bit of a new situation for me. The Czech made 17 unforced errors in the first set but fought back with 17 winners in the second before powering 3-1 ahead in the decider.
“It didn’t look good”, Beltz said about the deficit. Also, how I was dealing with the pressure when I came here and everybody was asking me about the No. 1 number, actually.
We have to wait and watch how Kerber goes about her business.
Kerber will take over from Serena Williams, who held the mantle for 186 weeks, as number one when the rankings are released on Monday.
Kerber, who is taking over the No. 1 ranking for the first time, is in her third major final of the year, while this is the first of Pliskova’s career.
Not just by besting Williams, but by pushing Kerber to three sets and giving her a very tough go of it in the finals. Kerber finally prevailed 6-3 4-6 6-4. It was a lead she would never relinquish despite coming under pressure from Pliskova.
The beauty in what Angelique Kerber accomplished in Saturday’s U.S. Open women’s final was as much in the process as the result.
So we know Pliskova, Kerber and Williams made the list.
“Here I have one day off so I can really prepare for the final against Pliskova”.
“With Angie, you can not wait for mistakes”, Pliskova said. But she broke right back and then won the last eight points of the match as a clearly worn out Pliskova sailed a forehand long on match point. Either way, the decision worked: Pliskova double-faulted on the match’s first point and got broken right from the get-go. “Not even in the beginning”, Pliskova said.
But Pliskova hung in there.
And after frittering away her first four break points of the match, she converted her fifth with a lob-volley victor.
Hence, Kerber knew what she was up against, and she came up with an incredible performance in the first set to clinch it 6-3.
Now it was a match, filled with terrific points, tense moments and plenty of emotion.
Kerber is 44-0 this season when she wins the first set.
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“We played a lot of times”, Pliskova said. Two errors gave a break back to Kerber in the sixth game. “She deserved to win today”, Williams added. “I was actually really exhausted because I came from Rio and I had a lot of tough matches there”, Kerber said.
