Adding the US Open title to her Australian Open crown proved enough to dislodge Williams from a top spot she had held since February 2013.
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The German met up with men’s champion Stan Wawrinka for a guest appearance at the long-running Live With Kelly, where she met award-winning actor Patrick Dempsey backstage. In a duel of power-hitters where protecting serve was crucial, Pliskova gained the upper hand with a break for 2-1 in the first set and Williams gave her a chance to serve it out with a shocking seventh game that started with a double-fault and continued with three errors to grant Pliskova a 5-2 lead.
“I think this shot was the key for the third set”, she said.
Especially after Kerber rallied from down a break in the third set Saturday to edge Karolina Pliskova and clinch her second major title of 2016. In the midst of her celebratory shoots, Kerber took some time to speak with WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen about her impressive run to the top of the tennis world in 2016, as well as her development as a person and player during her playing career. Her defense is exemplary, scrambling along the baseline to put her racket on seemingly every ball, crouching so low that her knees would come close to scraping the ground.
New Delhi:Newly crowned US Open women’s champion Angelique Kerber can be hailed as the reigning queen of women’s tennis.
“Winning the second Grand Slam title, it was a bit different”, she stated.
New world number one Angelique Kerber highlighted her improved mental preparation as the reason for a superb breakthrough year that has seen her win two grand slams.
But she fought back in the third set and wore down the towering Czech, who started to wilt in the punishing conditions, hunching over her racket at the end of nearly every point.
Kerber’s loss of the second set was the first time the entire championship that she had dropped a set.
Pliskova began to get comfortable in the second set, however, and both women battled back and forth in each game.
“I think I’m ready to have this pressure on my shoulders”, Kerber said.
After Pliskova sailed a forehand wide on match point, Kerber fell to her back on the stadium court and then climbed into the stands to hug her coach, Torben Beltz. She explained that her confidence came from knowing exactly what will happen after the final, win or lose, so she could just go out there and play.
“After that, I reached the final at Wimbledon, so that was one step after”. Kerber got broken early in the third and bounced her racket off the court.
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Kerber, who collected $3.5 million in prize money Saturday, lost to Pliskova the last time they met, just three weeks ago in the final of a hard-court tournament in Cincinnati. And after frittering away her first four break points, she converted her fifth with a lob-volley victor that curled over Kerber and alit right by the baseline. She certainly deserves it a lot.
