Czech tennis player Karolina Pliskova did something only a select few have done and that is beating both Venus and Serena Williams in the same tournament on her march in reaching the final of the US Open on Thursday.
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A year ago, Williams’ bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam ended when she lost in the U.S. Open semifinals to unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy in the semifinals.
Kerber breaks to love and women’s tennis has a new superstar!
“I don’t believe it”, Pliskova said.
“For me, it’s just incredible to be, after Steffi, the next number one player in Germany”, said Kerber. She broke a string just as Kerber broke her serve, and the German consolidated to build up a 2-0 lead.
Kerber was able to win two of her three, while Williams lost to Kerber and Spain’s Gabrielle Muguruza in the Australian and French Opens respectively.
The book on the Williams sisters at the U.S. Open is a short one: they couldn’t beat the Czech with the mid-thigh tattoo. And her 3 1/2-year reign at No. 1 in the WTA rankings is over, too, one week shy of what would have been yet another mark.
Kerber appeared in control of the game after taking the first set, stumbled in the second, but recovered to take the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours seven minutes.
Serena Williams reacts after a point to Karolina Pliskova, of the Czech Republic, during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, in NY. Not to mention, Serena and Angelique in the finals would have given us yet another unbelievable Grand Slam matchup, as they met at the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals in 2016, the latter of which gave Serena her 22nd Grand Slam victory, tying the record of legend Steffi Graf, 47.
“(Here) I can really prepare for the final against Pliskova.
In her straight-set semifinal victory over Caroline Wozniacki, Kerber used a strategic approach to win the match.
Kerber found herself in trouble, behind 3-1.
Men’s Doubles Final: Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beat Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-3 to win their second Grand Slam title of the year.
At 186 consecutive weeks, the American’s most recent stay at No.1 ties the Open Era record for most consecutive weeks at No.1 held by Graf. It was her first ever Grand Slam final appearance and going forward, she has put the rest of the field on notice. “You saw even when she was down a break she’s still fighting so it’s very hard”. Kerber, however, is made of stern stuff and gritted her teeth.
“That was also a challenge and I told myself, “OK, I will do everything on court today to win the match against Karolina”. Either way, the decision worked: Pliskova double-faulted on the match’s first point and got broken from the get-go.
As she does against most opponents, Kerber would make Pliskova swing two, three, four extra times to try to end a point.
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At 28, she’s the oldest woman to reach No. 1 for the first time and the first German since her idol and mentor, Steffi Graf. Kerber won the Australian Open title and was the runner-up at Wimbledon. Earlier, Pliskova bent down at the waist in glee as Williams failed to return her forehand in play.
