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.
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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. But she was already guaranteed of top spot when Pliskova saw off Williams in the semi-finals.
“I’m ready to have this pressure on my shoulder, because I think I get used to all of this, especially after my first Grand Slam in Australia”, said Kerber.
About to contest her third Grand Slam final of the year, Angelique Kerber couldn’t help but hear the part of player introductions when she was announced to the crowd as soon-to-be No. 1 in the rankings.
Kerber defeated the Czech 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in a gripping final that had a bit of everything.
“I was really trying to improving a lot of things”, Kerber said. After a poor start to 2015, Kerber rehired Beltz and the German quickly returned to her winning ways. Pliskova served out the second set – the only one dropped by Kerber all tournament – and spiked a ball.
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”.
For Pliskova, who will rise to No.6 in the rankings after the loss, there’s no sadness or regrets after competing in such a high-quality, closely contested major final, the first of her career.
Kerber broke back for 3-3 before Pliskova – who has a tennis playing twin sister – cracked at 4-5, getting broken to love in a flood of errors.
Kerber took up tennis at age three, but did not win her first significant junior title until she was 15.
Kerber still remembers how she saved the match point – with a serve out wide that forced Doi to miss a forehand.
“This mental strength was a life-saver when I was trailing 3-1 in the third set”, she said.
Faced with the challenge, Kerber admitted she was “a little negative” in the second set. “It’s always tough to play them”. “Now I can also take the next step and try to stay as long as I can there”.
“It’s just incredible what I did this year”, Kerber said.
Pliskova couldnt maintain the advantage.
But this was Kerber’s turn to show some mettle, breaking back to 3-all and again to end it. Oh, and she qualified for what will be her fourth appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Amidst the disappointment she was looking forward to building on her breakthrough Slam performance.
“For sure, when I was growing up, Steffi was my idol”, Kerber said, “and this is also special that she is German”. By the conclusion of the 2-hour, 7-minute final, Pliskova totaled 47 unforced errors, 30 more than Kerber.
However, Pliskova hung in and, after frittering away her first four break points of the match, she converted her fifth with a lob-volley victor that curled over Kerber and fell right by the baseline to lead 4-3 as she forced a final set.
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