Kerber Edges Pliskova For US Open Crown

Posted: Jan 01, 1970

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Angelique Kerber capped off her rise to WTA World No.1 by winning her first US Open title, edging past No.10 seed Karolina Pliskova, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

“It’s just amazing. I won my second Grand Slam of the year and it’s the best year of my career,” Kerber said after the match.

“For me everything started here in 2011,” she added, referring to when she made the semifinals ranked No.92. “And now here, five years later I’m standing here with the trophy. All the dreams came true this year.”

Pliskova, who was contesting the first Grand Slam final of her career, opened the match looking a bit nervy, hitting four unforced errors in her first service game – including a wild forehand volley at the net. She broke a string just as Kerber broke her serve, and the German consolidated to build up a 2-0 lead.

But now with a couple of games in the bag, both players began to settle into the match and bring out the sparring tennis they’ve produced in their past seven encounters. Kerber defending the ball well then found open court with her famously consistent ground strokes, keeping Pliskova on the run. For her part, the Czech took advantage of Kerber’s short balls and pounced on her second serve, but the loose errors proved to be her undoing as Kerber broke again to take the first set.