Serena Williams of the United States reacts after winning a point against Angelique Kerber of Germany during the women’s singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016.
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Melbourne – Serena Williams said on Thursday she was trying to block out her chances of equalling Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 Grand Slam titles, not needing the extra stress. Kerber faced a match point in her first round match against Japan’s Misaki Doi, but hasn’t dropped a set since losing the first set in that match.
Kerber said when she walked along Melbourne’s Yarra River on Friday morning, joggers had recognised her – a new experience.
Angelique Kerber could have been knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round itself.
An epic seventh game, including the first deuce of the match, allowed her to hold serve, but an easy Williams hold was followed by another lapse from Radwanska who was broken again.
Kerber credits her legendary compatriot for helping her fine-tune her groundstrokes and boost her confidence, and received a congratulatory text from the 46-year-old after she beat Britain’s Johanna Konta to reach the final. “She’s busy, yeah. She’s got a job to do”. Last season, she won four tournaments, more than doubling her career total to seven.
Serena Williams is on the verge of winning another Australian Open Trophy, one that would allow her to tie Steffi Graf for the lead.
“Against Serena you never know how she’s serving. I always said no”. “The intensity was very high”.
“I have actually nothing to lose”, Kerber said.
Many times Williams has stumbled into a third set before motoring to victory but Kerber halted her opponent’s momentum immediately with a hold and early break.
Kerber has lost five of her six meetings with the American world number one, with her only win coming in Cincinnati in 2012. There is no reason to think that with so much on the line that she will not get her hands on her 22nd Grand Slam title on Saturday night.
“My whole life I worked really hard and now I’m here I can say I’m a grand slam champion”. I was the favourite in NY.
“I m really excited to be in another final, it kind of blows my mind right now”, said Williams, 34. “I’ve played some of my best tennis here”. Maybe parts of my game, maybe parts of his game just matched up in a tough way and the first set ran away very quickly. Conversely, Williams has it all to lose, much like at the US Open. Although she has finished in the top 10 for the last four years she has generally flown under the radar, though that is changing. I’m fit. I will try to win against her. That’s for sure.
The statistics do not look good for Angelique Kerber, the German world No 6 who is looking to outplay and outlast Serena Williams on court tonight in the women’s singles final of the Australian Open.
And as we know, that didn’t happen as Serena fell to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.in one of the biggest upsets in tennis history.
“I felt really good my first final”.
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“I would say this is probably the best slam I’ve played in a year, and I’ve won a lot in a year”, Williams said. “She might have the same feeling”.
