Kerber, who defeated Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to add the NY crown to the one she claimed in January in Melbourne, now plans a two-week tennis break.
Advertisement
Wawrinka is used to chasing lost causes against Djokovic, coming back from losing the first set to win their 2014 Australian Open quarter-final and again at Roland Garros previous year. World number one Serena Williams is the heavy favourite for the title. That is the best year in my career.
Kerber became the first German player to win the US Open since her childhood hero Steffi Graf posed with the championship trophy 20 years ago.
“You can not compare those two (Serena Williams and Kerber)”, explained Pliskova.
The fact that Williams has won 22 titles and is still not only playing but continues to be the favourite at every Grand Slam she enters has led more than one commentator to declare her the “greatest of all time”. Pliskova, who had never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam in 17 prior attempts, also beat Venus Williams en route to the title match, becoming just the fourth player to beat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam.
Flipping the script dramatically, Kerber took her game to a whole new dimension this season.
“I mean, definitely, I would say now that she deserves to be No. 1”, Pliskova said.
A transformative tennis flashback: The first round of the first Slam in 2016 and Angelique Kerber was preparing to exit the Australian Open, saying later in interviews that she had one foot on the plane. And in Saturday’s title match against the world’s newly crowned No. 1 player, Pliskova was up a break in the third set over Angelique Kerber.
She executed a fantastic service game and clinched the victory on Pliskova’s 47th unforced error of the match.
After beating Karolina Pliskova yesterday, 6-3 4-6 6-4, Kerber finished off a great Grand Slam season that saw her win Australia and NY and be the runner up in Wimbledon.
In the end, however, her 47 unforced errors – a outcome of her big-hitting approach – compared to Kerber’s meagre 17 proved her undoing. Kerber capitalized whenever she caught Pliskova’s weaknesses, and then lined her signature left-handed forehand to win the set. That winning check for $3.5 million surely will go a long way, but the confidence she draws from this smashing breakthrough? “I think her forehand down the line is one of the best in the game”.
But Kerber, the Australian Open champion in January and Wimbledon runner-up in July, proved too steady an obstacle-in the first set, the 28-year-old committed just three unforced errors.
Kerber took control of the set mostly through her second serves. But Wawrinka did not let up, as he took advantage of his service game and subsequently broke Djokovic in the final game to even the match up at one set apiece.
“Amazing that she was still number one having only played eight tournaments”.
“The improvements in her game, both in her movement and eye to be more aggressive was apparent in NY. Thank you so much for the whole support, you’re just wonderful”.
“To me, the biggest surprise was Serena had lost the two finals at slams and then a semifinal”, said former world No. 1 Martina Navratilova. “That’s why I’m talking a lot about that”.
Advertisement
“Even though I couldn’t get the win, I’m still happy with the way I played the last three weeks”.
