She played well on Saturday, too, with a new kind of pressure stacked on her shoulders: She was expected to win this match against No. 11-ranked Karolina Pliskova as the new world No. 1, no Serena Williams to go up against and say, ‘Hey, she’s too good’.
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Djokovic clinched the first set 6-4 as Federer found it hard to escape the top seed’s stranglehold. And while he is only 4-19 against Djokovic over their careers, half of Wawrinka’s victories came en route to his major titles, in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Australian Open and the final of the 2015 French Open.
Although Pliskova won 80 percent of her serve and volley points, she deployed the tactic only ten times.
“This what’s happened in the last two weeks, it’s just incredible”.
Looking back, Kerber admits she just couldn’t deal with the pressure when she arrived in Paris.
In her maiden grand-slam final, the Czech 10th seed went down to Kerber 6-3 4-6 6-4 in an entertaining clash at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday.
In that game, she had been down, 0-30, and held serve to lead, 4-3.
Angelique Kerber arrived in her first US Open final blessed with the full understanding that she was more ready for a major title than she will ever be in her career. After a brief interlude as she came to terms with her achievement in Australia, reaching finals in Wimbledon, at the Olympics and Cincinnati. Karolina Pliskova in a smashing final 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
“Definitely she played a few finals of grand slams already”.
Kerber divested Serena of the world No.1 ranking when Pliskova upset the American 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in Thursday evening’s first semi-final. She is the first German woman to gain the top spot since Steffi Graf.
But Williams must increasingly pick and choose her tournaments to preserve her body for the Grand Slams that are her priority. Subsequently she announced that she was pregnant and due to give birth at the end of the year, and intends to be back next season at some point.
Pliskova was the first player to take a set off Kerber at Flushing Meadows. Usually in years past she gets more caught out in the first week, not the second week.
When Pliskovas final forehand sailed out, Kerber was launched on a joyous celebration, climbing into box where coach Torben Beltz was sitting then returning to the court where the tears flowed.
Pliskova, who had never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam in 17 prior attempts, also beat Venus Williams en route to the title match, becoming just the fourth player to beat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam.
“And also, today, I mean, it’s always tough to going in the final when I know the opponent beats me like two or three weeks ago”. This is the second title for Kerber in the same year, earlier she won the title in January 2016. Andy has one, although also won Olympic gold. I’ve learned a lot in the last years and right now I’m playing my best tennis with a lot of confidence.
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Regardless of the outcome of this match, Kerber was assured of replacing Williams at the top of the WTA rankings Monday, and she has Pliskova to thank for that. “I’m starting to move out of the shadows”.
