Angelique Kerber says she is ready for Saturday’s US Open final where she will be aiming to get revenge on Karolina Pliskova. The pressure was on for Serena, with the record of a 23rd Grand Slam titles and winning a 7th US Open looming over Serena for the whole tournament.
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Kerber – the Australian Open champion who also finished as runner-up at Wimbledon – confessed that stepping onto the court knowing she was world number one made it hard to concentrate.
“It was about those last two, three weeks that I have played here in the States and I won good matches”.
Down two games in the third and on the ropes, Kerber showed her resilience and why she deserves to be at the top, coming up with two huge service breaks to take a 6-4 third set win and the title.
Williams said she had been hampered by a sore left knee since earlier in the tournament.
“It’s impossible to compete without moving”.
She is replaced by Angelique Kerber at the top spot, after the German beat Dane Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 to set up the decider with the 24-year-old. “I am excited to be in the final and to beat Serena as she is such a great champion”, said the 6pht 1in (1.86m) Czech who had also beaten Venus Williams in the fourth round.
“I don’t blame anything today”, Williams said, going on to explain that her injury did not have anything to do with the fact that she played on back-to-back nights for the first time this U.S. Open.
“Yeah, I have been having some serious left knee problems”, Williams lamented. I lost to her. The defeat means she will lose her No. 1 WTA ranking for the first time since February 2013.
Her aggression from the baseline was too much for Wozniacki, a former world number one but now down to 74 in the rankings.
“It’s just incredible”, Kerber told Garber.
If you need any proof that the Czech has momentum on her side, simply look back at her first set against Serena Williams on Thursday. “Like I was making errors that I never make, and definitely I didn’t make in this tournament in particular”, said Williams, a six-time US Open victor. “If I was exhausted I should definitely get into a new career”. “Steffi’s a great player and a great person, and I think she is proud of me, to be the next one after her”, Kerber said, as quoted by the BBC. “I don’t care who I will play in the final”.
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She may be in unfamiliar ground in the second week of a Grand Slam, but in Kerber she’ll face a well-known foe. She’ll continue to share the 22 record titles with Steffi Graff.
