It, however, was not to be as Karolina Pliskova pulled off a stunner to upset Kerber in the final, winning 6-3 6-1 in what turned out to be a lopsided contest.
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More is at stake in the women’s title match.
American Williams, 34, has been world number one since February 2013, and is closing on Steffi Graf’s record of 186 consecutive weeks at the top. With the number one ranking on the line, Kerber didn’t play her best match hitting 32 unforced errors.
“I tried my best, but sometimes you have days where it’s not working so good”, Kerber said. “If someday it happens, it happens, but I will not be making too much pressure on this”. “I’m already really looking forward to coming back here next year”.
After the match Kerber told ESPN’s Mary Jo Fernandez that she was definitely exhausted as she had played 11 matches in 14 days after winning the silver medal at the Olympics in Rio and then coming straight to Cincinnati.
During that stretch Kerber also claimed an Olympic Silver medal, which made her the first German woman to medal at the Games since 1992?
Kerber fell into a 5-1 deficit in the second set after a double-fault to allow Pliskova to serve out the biggest win of her career a game later on a second match point. “I was still expecting during the match some complication as always it is in tennis, but happy it went like this”. Pliskova took a few steps toward the net, stopped, clenched both fists and closed her eyes for a moment, letting it soak in.
GERMANY: Third-division side Sportfreunde Lotte knocked six-time champion Werder Bremen out of the German Cup with a 2-1 victory in Berlin, while Bayer Leverkusen progressed from the first round. Her first turn came in 2002, when she replaced older sister Venus.
In the men’s bracket, Murray beat Milo Raonic 6-3, 6-3, also overcoming a brief rain delay in the first set.
But after a week of spectacular tennis from the tall Czech powerhouse, it was clear that Pliskova had come to play in Sunday’s final, racing out to a 4-0 lead to start the match.
“I know it”, she said.
“I think today was really that I was trying to pushing myself and trying to still giving everything what’s left actually”. It was a very, very positive week. “Yeah, I’m doing good I think, and let’s see what’s happen in the next few weeks”. Novak Djokovic and defending champion Roger Federer skipped the tournament because of injuries, and Rafael Nadal was beaten early as he works back from a two-month wrist injury.
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Karolina Pliskova (CZE) returns a shot against Angelique Kerber (GER) in the finals during the Western and Southern tennis tournament at Linder Family Tennis Center.
