Kerber begins reign as number one with U.S. Open win was posted in Sports of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on September 12, 2016 and was last updated on September 12, 2016.
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Kerber is the first woman from Germany to win the U.S. Open – and the first to get to No. 1 – since her idol and mentor, Steffi Graf, who got in touch via text message before the final.
The 28-year-old German is the new US Open victor after she beat new world No.10, Karolina Pliskova, in three sets – 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Injury or not, Williams surrendered her No. 1 ranking and Kerber has no intentions of giving it up.
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.
“When I won my first Grand Slam in Australia, and we came back I had much more confidence”, she said.
Kerber admires compatriot Steffi Graf, but is blazing her own trail.
“It’s incredible.” The 28-year-old left-hander, who beat Serena Williams in the final at Melbourne and lost to the United States great in the Wimbledon final, will officially rise to world number one on Monday. It will be fascinating to see how the American responds to the threat of Kerber, who has shown that she has real staying power.
Speaking after her latest triumph, the German told reporters: “What’s happened in the last two weeks, it’s just incredible”.
Pliskova said that Kerber being left-handed was also a key factor in the way the final played out.
“You have the pressure that she’s gonna ace you four times in a game, but you still have to be aggressive and hit winners, otherwise I can not be the one who is running with her”, said Pliskova.
Kerber, who celebrated her 28th birthday in January and won a silver medal in the singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics added, “All the dreams came true this year”.
She had never made it to a final in 32 Grand Slam appearances, and three-and-a-half years had elapsed since the German even advanced to the semifinals at such an event.
“Angelique had to draw on everything that she’s learned this year to win that match”, Pam Shriver, the ESPN commentator, told USA TODAY Sports of the final.
However, things were not looking great for Kerber, as her body language did not look good in the second set. Because I think this Grand Slam was the most painful, physically and mentally, that I ever played. One needs to applaud Kerber for her solid play in the final set.
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“Definitely she played a few finals of grand slams already”. Because I know that when I practicing I can be aggressive. I went twice to the net and was going really for the shot. Never take anything for granted.
