U.S. Open Day 13 Preview: Kerber, Pliskova Square Off in U.S. Open Final
The newly minted world number one Angelique Kerber hopes to put a stamp on her new title as the best player in the world on Saturday as she takes on 10th seed Karolina Pliskova in the women’s final of the U.S. Open later this afternoon.
“It feels amazing,” Kerber said of reaching the top spot in the world. “It feels just great. To now be the No. 1 in the world, that was always a dream for me. I was trying not to think too much the last few weeks about this, and now I reached it. So it’s something really special for me.
To be the next German No. 1 in the world after Steffi [Graf], it’s really special. It’s an honor for me.”
Kerber became the oldest player to make her debut as the world number one, and it came as a result of Serena Williams’ defeat to Pliskova in Thursday’s semifinal. The German entered her semifinal already knowing she had taken over the top spot, and was still able to dismiss Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3 in her semifinal.
Pliskova and Kerber have some recent history that adds intrigue to today’s match beyond just the U.S. Open trophy being up for grabs. Kerber had a chance to overtake Serena in the rankings a couple of weeks ago at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, but Pliskova beat her 6-3, 6-1 in that tournament’s final.
That win did a lot for Pliskova’s confidence and it has shown in Flushing Meadows. She entered the U.S. Open having never been out of the third round at a Grand Slam, but has now reached her first major final, including becoming just the fourth player ever to beat both Venus and Serena Williams in the same Grand Slam.
Kerber leads the all-time head to head series 4-3, but Pliskova has a new-found confidence about her and is the one playing with really nothing to lose on Saturday.
“Even if I don’t get it, it’s a big result. I’m really happy to be there and even have the chance to play in the final here,” said Pliskova. “It doesn’t happen often, you know, that you’re playing especially [a] semifinal against Serena on center court here in New York. It doesn’t happen often that you’re in the final of Grand Slams.
I’m really excited to be there and really excited to be in a Grand Slam final for first time in my life.”
This matchup will be one of contrasting styles: the big-serving, big-hitting Pliskova against Kerber, the rally-master who will look to move Pliskova side-to-side and bring her to the net, something Serena was unable to do on Thursday night.
The match gets underway around 4:00 p.m. EST this afternoon.
Before the women’s final, the men’s doubles final will hit the Arthue Ashe Stadium court, as the fourth-seeded duo of Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares takes on the Spanish duo of Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Murray and Soares have already captured the Australian Open duo and they knocked off the top-seeds and defending champions of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in their semifinal.
The U.S. Open junior tournament continues on Saturday with the semifinals. The eighth-seeded American Sofia Kenin, who took out top-seeded Russian Anastasia Potapova on Friday, will meet 13th seed Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia, and fifth-seed American Kayla Day will square off with seventh-seeded Canadian Bianca Andreescu.
On the boys’ side, the top-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece will meet sixth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in one semifinal, while Yosuke Wayanuki, the seventh-seed from Japan, plays fifth-seeded Serb Miomir Kecmanovic.
The American Collegiate Invitational wraps up on Saturday afternoon. Danielle Collins of Virginia will play Ronit Yurovsky of Michigan in the women’s final, while another Virginia Cavalier, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski takes on Austin Smith of Georgia.
Click Here to see the full schedule for Day 13 at the 2016 U.S. Open.
