On Saturday, no longer an outsider, she gave herself a happier ending in the world’s biggest tennis stadium.
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Williams’ semifinal ouster, combined with Kerber’s win, clinched a new No. 1 on the women’s circuit for the first time in 186 weeks. She unseated Serena Williams in Melbourne, lost to the American at Wimbledon and then watched the former world No. 1 lose to Pliskova before they could have their rubber match.
Pliskova, gaining in confidence, grabbed her first break of the match for a 4-3 lead, lofting a lob over the dejected German.
“Of course, now everybody will try to beat me and have nothing to lose”, Kerber said.
The No. 2-seeded Kerber came back to win five of the last six games after trailing by a break at 3-1 in the third set. She averaged 109 miles per hour on her first serves Thursday – faster than the younger Williams, known for the best serve in the women’s game – and leads the tour in aces this year.
When the year began, Kerber had yet to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament.
Kerber, 28, has had a year to remember but had to reverse a recent loss to book-end it with a second grand slam title.
“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”. Even though I couldn’t get the win, I’m proud of the way I’ve played the last few weeks.
“Right now I don’t know if she has messaged me because my phone is somewhere, so I don’t know how many messages I have now”.
“It’s just unbelievable”, Kerber said in an on-court interview.
Kerber takes home the winners’ cheque for 3.5million United States dollars and becomes the first woman, other than Williams, to win two grand slams in a year since Justine Henin in 2007.
The world number 11, who will rise to sixth, ultimately came up short in the decider, however, as Kerber’s experience and stamina proved decisive.
Kerber still remembers how she saved the match point – with a serve out wide that forced Doi to miss a forehand. She put almost 80 percent of her returns in play – negating Pliskova’s biggest advantage – and made nothing easy; even on the points Pliskova won with screaming winners, Kerber often made her hit two or three extra balls.
Pliskova’s booming serve is one of her greatest strengths – the Czech’s tournament tally of 44 aces here was bettered only by Serena Williams (65) – though she also serves more than her share of double faults.
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Kerber, by contrast, was used to competing on the big stage, having played two major finals already this year. The German star has featured in three of the year’s Grand Slam finals (winning two) and was also a silver medallist at the Olympic Games. It also means her tie with Steffi Graf for the all-time Grand Slam record remains. “I’m feeling fitter than I did in previous years”.
