“She was my idol. She still is my idol”, Kerber said in her pre-match press conference.
Advertisement
Johanna Konta admitted her lack of experience proved crucial as the Australian Open underdog lost in straights sets to Angelique Kerber.
Konta is so level-headed, she claimed she felt “not very different” losing her first Grand Slam semi-final to failing to qualify for the Australian Open for the last three years.
Allertova had come out on top when the pair met at the French Open previous year but Konta exacted sweet revenge, closing out a comfortable win against the Czech world number 66, who was hampered by a thigh injury.
Williams threatened to embarrass her semi-final opponent Agnieszka Radwanska on Thursday, annihilating the Pole 6-0 in a first set that took just 20 minutes.
Radwanksa’s admission after the match was telling.
Plenty has been made of Konta’s improvement over the last six months, which includes a run to the fourth round at the US Open, and much has been said about her improved mental well-being having worked with Juan Coto since October 2014. “For me personally, it was a little bit 10 percent not enough of everything”, she said.
Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares advanced to the doubles final with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Adrian Mannarino and Lucas Pouille and will next meet Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek, who beat Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers 7-6 (11), 6-4.
The world No. 6 has now won eight of her last ten matches with her only losses coming at the hands of Azarenka in the final of the Brisbane International and during the second round of the Sydney International where she was forced to withdraw from the tournament citing injury.
The 28-year-old, buoyed by a new-found self-belief inspired by fellow German Steffi Graf, proved too hot to handle for Konta as she won 7-5, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena. Djokovic held his first service game at love and broke the 17-time Grand Slam champion in the second.
“I’m very proud with how I was able to just keep focus and just keep going”.
Asked about her parents’ reaction back home in Britain, Konta apologized for making them stay up so late.
Konta also nearly doubled her career earnings in one fortnight, taking home a cheque for $650,000 for reaching the last four.
“I don’t look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘You’re number this in the world”. I don’t know. If I need to break something, hopefully I don’t break anything.
But with a final against Serena Williams for the victor, Konta came up short against German Angelique Kerber.
“I’m really excited to be in another final, it kind of blows my mind right now”, said Williams. “I created a lot of opportunities, but then I was not enough on my opportunities”.
“It’s really, really good for tennis on the back of the end of a year ago with the Davis Cup as well, it’s extremely positive, we’ve just got to try and capitalise on it”, said Murray, who will face 13th seed Milos Raonicin the last four.
Advertisement
Unfortunately for her, she was unable to capitalize on that resurgence, and Kerber quickly closed out the next two games to win the set 6-3.
