The Czech had become the first player in six years to beat Serena and Venus Williams – who own a combined 29 singles majors – at the same tournament but was unable to overcome the counter-punching Kerber three weeks after downing the left-hander in Cincinnati.
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Kerber won the Australian Open earlier this year but lost in the finals at Wimbledon.
Pliskova had knocked out Serena Williams in the semi-final in NY but could not manage a repeat against Kerber, who becomes the first German US Open champion since Steffi Graf in 1996.
Although Pliskova won 80 percent of her serve and volley points, she deployed the tactic only ten times.
“It’s incredible. I’m standing here with a second Grand Slam trophy and it means so much to me”.
She plans to stay on top for a while.
But 11th-ranked Pliskova broke late in the second and then led 3-1 in the third. She was wishing me luck for the final. “When I was a kid, I was always dreaming to be the number one player in the world and to win Grand Slams, and today’s the day”. “I’m trying to stay relaxed off the court”.
There were plenty of lengthy exchanges in the first set and Kerber tended to get the better of them, winning nine of 14 points that lasted at least 10 strokes.
The match opened with Kerber breaking a jittery Pliskova and ended the same way.
“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”. I found some power in myself in the second set.
The German began the season with a shock win over Williams in Melbourne, which was only possible after she had saved a match point against Japan’s Misaki Doi in the first round.
Take a moment to appreciate Kerber’s year. Ranked No. 11 in the world, she had not previously advanced beyond the third round of a grand slam. Kerber won the Australian Open title and was the runner-up at Wimbledon. “To win in Cincinnati was the biggest title of my career”, she said. After hitting a backhand wide and then putting what should have been a simple backhand into the net, Pliskova missed a forehand on the first match point. But this year, deep in the third set of a slam final, the 28-year-old needed no second thought. It will be interesting to see how Williams responds to chasing her down now because this is different too: Unlike some of the other times Williams lost the No. 1 ranking, it didn’t happen this time because of Williams’ injuries or indifference. And after frittering away her first four break points, she converted her fifth with a lob-volley victor that curled over Kerber and landed right by the baseline. Kerber got broken early in the third and bounced her racket off the court. On one that went 15 shots, Pliskova tried a drop shot that Kerber sprinted to reach before scooping a down-the-line forehand victor to a corner.
As she does against most opponents, Kerber would make Pliskova swing two, three, four extra times to try to end a point.
“I found out I can play my best tennis on these big courts”, she told reporters.
Pliskova said she felt no sadness in defeat.
If Kerber really is up to the challenge of defending her No. 1 ranking and Pliskova can build on this eye-opening run, they won’t be one-year or one-month blips. She will only be linked with legends Steffi Graf and Serena Williams because she hails from the same country as the former and has the timing to outlast Serena’s ups and downs in 2016.
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It looked as though Kerber’s athleticism and defensive skills would not be enough, but she levelled at 3-3 and then roared as a blistering forehand victor helped her move ahead once again.
