Serena
Williams 4-6, 6-3, 4-6 Angelique Kerber (Australian Open Final)
Serena
Williams comes into the match as the big favourite, as she goes for her 22nd
Grand Slam title against a left-handed opponent in Angelique Kerber, whom she
has a 5-1 head to head record advantage over. The only time Williams faced a
left-handed player in a Grand Slam final was against Lucie Safarova at the 2015
French Open, and she faced a lot of problems against Safarova. Would it be the
same against Kerber? Would Kerber, participating in her 1st ever
Grand Slam final, feel the pressure?
Williams
started the match perfectly, holding her always-solid serve to love to open the
match with. Kerber then went on a mini-roll since then, holding her serve and
then breaking Williams’ serve comfortably to take the lead in the set. She
managed to consolidate the break of serve, and almost broke once again in the
next game. However, this time, Williams maintained her composure and shrugged
off the pressure by coming from 0-30 down to win her service game and prevent
Kerber from extending her lead. Williams managed to punish Kerber’s second
services in the next game, and successfully broke back to level the match. Kerber
proved that her defence is of world-class quality as she broke Williams’ strong
serve once again to regain the lead, and inch closer to winning the first set. Kerber
was a bit lucky in her next service game, having a low first serve percentage,
allowing Williams to attack those second serves but instead Williams kept
hitting unforced errors everywhere from anywhere. At this point of time,
Williams hit 19 unforced errors compared to just 2 from Kerber. Kerber then
successfully served out the set to love, putting her in a very favourable
position to win her 1st Grand Slam title judging by her solid game.
This set saw Williams hit 23 unforced errors, whereas Kerber only hit 3 of
them.
Williams
started the 2nd set on the front foot by holding her serve
comfortably. She made the first breakthrough in the second set, breaking
Kerber’s serve in a game where she hit her first 2 double faults of the 2nd
set. Once again coming down from 0-30, Williams held her serve in a tough game
which allowed her to consolidate the break and extend her lead. Williams served
out the set 6-3 moments later, which levelled the match at one set all. This
set saw Williams’ serve improving by a lot, facing no break points and hitting
67% of first serves in. This set also saw her hitting 16 winners to only 5
unforced errors, a drastic improvement from the first set.
Williams
entered the third set with an 8-0 record in third set when playing in major
finals, and Kerber certainly did not read the script as she held her serve
easily and broke Williams’ serve immediately in the next game with some
incredible and world-class defence. Williams’ backhand and offense proved too
good for Kerber as she immediately broke back to level the match on serve, and
prevent herself from lagging behind too much. A couple of games after, Kerber
once again broke Williams in a very tough game where she saw 4 break point
opportunities fade away. During the game, Kerber also hit 2 perfectly executed
dropshots despite being behind the baseline to completely outfox Williams. Kerber
was now 2 games away from the big upset, and she made it 1 game after she held
her serve to love despite all the pressure she was facing. Serving to stay in
the match, Williams hit a double fault in the first point of the game, hinting
that she might be crumbling to the pressure. Nevertheless, using her experience
in dealing with pressure, Williams held her serve to stay in the match and keep
herself in the hunt of her 22nd Grand Slam title. Kerber was finally
feeling the pressure when serving for the match and the championship, hitting 2
unforced errors to start the game. She hit another forehand long on break point
to gift the break back to Williams, and Williams is now finally back on serve
as Kerber’s lead evaporated within a blink of an eye. It was now Williams’ turn
to hit unforced errors as she went down 0-30, leaving Kerber just 2 points away
from the victory once again. Kerber’s amazing defence allowed her to save game
point and get to match point for her 1st ever Grand Slam title. On
match point, Williams hit yet another forehand volley into the net, gifting the
title to Kerber.
This match
is one of the highest quality match this year, with both players hitting more
winners than errors, especially for Kerber as she had a +12 difference.
Williams looked very leaky at the net, with Kerber able to hit many winners
past Williams from the baseline.
This win
allowed Angelique Kerber become the first German to win a Grand Slam title
since Steffi Graf, and rise to a career-high ranking of No.2 in the world.
|
Williams
|
Kerber
|
|
|
Aces
|
7
|
5
|
|
DFs
|
6
|
3
|
|
1st Serve
|
53%
|
55%
|
|
1st Serve Won
|
69%
|
73%
|
|
2nd Serve Won
|
42%
|
47%
|
|
Winners
|
47
|
25
|
|
Unforced Errors
|
46
|
13
|
|
Break Points
|
4/8
|
5/9
|
|
Net Points
|
15/32
|
2/3
|
|
Points Won
|
85
|
91
|