The five-times grand slam champion Maria Sharapova has been sidelined on a two-year doping ban.
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Germany’s Angelique Kerber began her reign as world number one in imperious style battling past a determined Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to win the US Open final and claim her second Grand Slam title of the year.
“When I was a kid”, Kerber said after the match.
“I knew that I have the game to beat the best players if I was just patient and worked really hard”, said Kerber, who becomes only the second woman from Germany to win a US Open title in the tournament’s 136-year history after the five-times victor Steffi Graf. “It’s actually just incredible”. Adding the championship at Flushing Meadows was further proof that all of the changes Kerber has made are paying off.
“Right now I don’t know if she has messaged me because my phone is somewhere, so I don’t know how many messages I have now”. Then I won round by round and I was trying to enjoy the tennis.
Kerber won the first set 6-3, before losing the second 4-6.
“It didn’t look good”, Beltz said about the deficit.
The men’s final between Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic and Swiss player Stan Wawrinka will take place today. You really see that she doesn’t want to lose and wants to go for her shots.
Her powerful groundstrokes had Kerber on the run at times, but her 47 unforced errors were, finally, too much to overcome.
It was Pliskova of the Czech Republic who guaranteed Kerber’s ascension in the rankings by beating Williams in the semifinals, ending her streak of 186 that equaled Graf’s mark. If someone would tell me I’m going to play finals in this tournament two weeks ago, I would take it.
But from the outset of this final, it was Kerber who was in charge. Serving at 3-5, Pliskova double-faulted to give Kerber a set point, and the German smacked a running forehand up the line to capture the first set. But she was already guaranteed of top spot when Pliskova saw off Williams in the semi-finals.
“Definitely I found out that I can my best tennis on the biggest stage against the top players”, said Pliskova, who will rise to No6 in the world.
Pliskova vowed not to turn her back on her all-or-nothing game despite it falling short in her three-set defeat to Kerber.
But Pliskova hung in there.
When the new rankings are released Monday, Kerber, at 28, will be the oldest player to debut at No.1.
Kerber said she would now put her tennis racquet to the side for a few days and would treat herself to a special gift with some of her $3.5 million prize money.
Now it was a match, filled with terrific points, tense moments and plenty of emotion. She got broken to love with a flurry of unforced errors.
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Kerber admires compatriot Steffi Graf, but is blazing her own trail.
