The No. 2-seeded Kerber trailed by a break at 3-1 in the third set before taking five of the last six games against a fading Pliskova, who was seeded 10th and hadn’t been past the third round at a major until this tournament.
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“It sounds a little bit insane”, Kerber said of hearing herself being called the No. 1 player.
It was the Swiss players first NY title, following his breakthrough 2014 Australian Open triumph and 2015 Roland Garros crown.
“You have the pressure that she’s gonna ace you four times in a game, but you still have to be aggressive and hit winners, otherwise I can not be the one who is running with her”, said Pliskova.
Pliskova, 24, went into the final with a WTA Tour-leading 447 aces this year.
The second seed earned a 6-4 4-6 6-4 victory in NY to become just the second female player to lift two Grand Slam titles in the same year since 2007.
Kerber’s loss of the second set was the first time the entire championship that she had dropped a set. Kerber will inherit No1 ranking from Serena Williams on Monday.
They seemed to be on course for a third meeting in the final at Flushing Meadows, but the 10th-seeded Pliskova eliminated Williams in the semifinals, after beating her sister Venus in the fourth round.
But Kerber has found comfort in her own skin: She’s discovered new levels in her tennis that many told her weren’t there, and her rise – from a 91st-ranked surprise semifinalist at the U.S. Open in 2011 to Saturday’s second major title win – has been a demonstration in the slow climb of a champion.
Murray and Soares defeated Spanish rivals Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-3.
And the example Kerber sets for any young person is remarkable. She had never been past the third round at a major.
The men’s final between Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic and Swiss player Stan Wawrinka will take place today.
Sharapova is bound to have kept abreast with what happened at the season’s final Grand Slam, which was won on Saturday night by Angelique Kerber in her latest chapter of Tales of the Unexpected.
The world number one looked spent.
Hence, Kerber knew what she was up against, and she came up with an incredible performance in the first set to clinch it 6-3.
Pliskova arrived in the final on the back of an 11-match winning streak and also having beaten Kerber in the final at Cincinnati last month. One needs to applaud Kerber for her solid play in the final set.
Kerber said she has no plans to spend big off of her $3.5 million paycheck – the biggest in tennis. Pliskova made 17 unforced errors to three for Kerber.
“Amazing to win a second Grand Slam in one year”, Kerber said.
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Like Muguruza, Kerber initially struggled after the shock to the system of winning the Australian Open unexpectedly, but the slump proved only temporary.
