Pliskova served the set out from 5-4 with an ace followed by a long forehand from Kerber.
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Germany’s Angelique Kerber edged past No.10 seed Karolina Pliskova, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to win her first US Open title, here on Saturday.
“I heard from her yesterday or like two days ago”, said Kerber.
Angelique Kerber says she is ready to step up her game and shoulder the pressure of being the top-ranked tennis player in the world.
Like Muguruza, Kerber initially struggled after the shock to the system of winning the Australian Open unexpectedly, but the slump proved only temporary.
“I think it’s a beginning”, Angelique Kerber said in September 2011 after her very unexpected run to the U.S. Open semifinals was over.
“It’s just incredible what I did this year”, Kerber said.
While the German pocketed an unlikely second Major title of the season, Sharapova’s next engagement is likely to be with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, who any week now are due to hear her appeal against a two-year ban for taking Meldonium.
Kerber is the oldest player to become world number one for the first time but the likes of Williams, her sister Venus, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka are proving players can now challenge for major titles well into their thirties.
Kerber finished last year ranked 10th in the world and turned dreams into a reality this year after rededicating herself.
After 4-4 in the final set, Kerber’s rock solid performance helped her the match. “First of all, of course, my fitness and then to being more aggressive and go for it when I have the chance”. Not just hitting the balls over the net.
“I knew that I have the game to beat the best players if I was just patient and worked really hard”, said Kerber, who becomes only the second woman from Germany to win a US Open title in the tournament’s 136-year history after the five-times victor Steffi Graf.
“In the second set, my body language was not the best”. “And now to see that the work pays off, this is actually the best feeling. This was what I was trying to improving with the pressure”, Kerber said afterwards.
Due to her stunning transformation into an elite player, Kerber deserves all the accolades she’s receiving.
Pliskova said that Kerber being left-handed was also a key factor in the way the final played out.
The Australian Open back in January was where Kerber not only made her first Grand Slam final but won her first championship.
She was runner-up to Williams again at Wimbledon, and claimed silver at the Rio Olympics.
“After that, everything starts this year”, Kerber said. I was just being patient and was working really hard. Just playing my game.
In a match of contrasting game style, Pliskova the flat hitter and big server and Kerber, one of the game’s great retrievers, it had the potential to be a classic.
Another exhilarating US Open tournament gets to the business end, with both men’s and women’s finalists confirmed.
But she was assured of that spot when Pliskova toppled Williams in the semi-finals.
“You have to believe in your dreams”.
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As they went to the third set, both women began showing more emotion. This is when you do everything and everything comes together one day. I did everything this year. “When I was going down the line, I knew I had to risk a little bit because this is the only chance I can get”.
