It turned into quite the historic weekend for Kerber, who won her second Grand Slam title of 2016 by fending off No. 10 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, under extremely hot and humid conditions at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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Kerber wiped tears of joy and relief from her eyes before accepting a winner’s cheque for $3.5 million and a gleaming silver trophy after fighting back to beat Karolina Pliskova in a display worthy of the new number one player in women’s tennis.
Although Pliskova won 80 percent of her serve and volley points, she deployed the tactic only ten times.
Pliskova beat Kerber in the final at Cincinnati almost three weeks ago for a breakthrough title for the 24-year-old Czech, and she’s been riding that momentum ever since.
Pliskova broke Kerber to go up 2-1 in the third and the normally composed Kerber bounced her racket off the hard turf. She will be only the second German woman to lead the rankings after her childhood idol, Steffi Graf, who was on top for a total of 377 weeks.
But she was assured of that spot when Pliskova toppled Williams in the semi-finals.
“After that I was just telling myself, ‘OK, I will get one more chance, ‘” Kerber said. She defeated Serena at the Australian Open, but lost to her at Wimbledon. “I think it’s good that she has had two finals in the majors; for Karolina it’s new”.
“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.
Kerber held again, and then fought Pliskova to deuce. I’m the number one player on Monday.
“She’s really grown as a player”, Fernandez said. We all know she’s tough to play and she’s putting so many balls back.
“It was always my goal to pass the third round and I made it to the final”.
In the end, however, her 47 unforced errors – a outcome of her big-hitting approach – compared to Kerber’s meagre 17 proved her undoing.
Clijsters result then? She won the tournament.
But now that Kerber has said ranking secure, she seeks not to be denied another piece of history by her foe, and win her second major title. I hope I didn’t stop yet, that there is still one more step to go.
Kerber burst onto the scene in 2011 at the US Open when, ranked number 92 in the world, she reached the semifinal. Pliskova changed tactics after losing the first set and made serious inroads by coming in to the net more often. “I was really going for my win there and got the win, which gave me a lot of confidence”. It doesn’t happen often that you- “re in the final of Grand Slams”.
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While we’re happy for Karolina’s great play, she knocked out fan favorite and top ranked Serena Williams, 34, on September 8, shocking tennis fans and denying the superstar a chance at a record 23rd Grand Slam win.
