Serena Williams(1) vs Angelique Kerber(7)
Head to Head: Williams 5-1 Kerber
The mighty Serena Williams will be playing for her 7th Australian Open title and 22nd Grand Slam title overall when she takes the court against Angelique Kerber later today. A win will take Serena a step closer to achieving the Golden Calendar Slam, which has only been achieved by Steffi Graf way back in the year 1998. But if there is one woman who will give her all in trying to prevent that from happening is Angelique Kerber. The German has come a long way since reaching the semi-finals of the U.S. Open in 2012 ranked 92nd in the world.
Since then she has broken into top ten in the rankings, won seven WTA titles and will be only the second German, after Anke Huber, to reach the finals of the Australian Open. But luck may run out for the German in the final as she has to face the marauding American, who seems to be getting stronger with age. The world no.1 did not face a single seed until she ran against Maria Sharapova in the quarter-final and Agnieszka Radwanska in the semis, dismissing them with ease. Her form has been extraordinary and no doubt she will start in today’s match as the favourite to add to her 21 Grand Slam titles.
Kerber has been in good form except the first round where she had to save a match point against Misaki Do. The German won all her remaining matches in straight sets including the one against two-time champion Victoria Azarenka for the first time in the quarter-finals. She played her semifinal match against Johanna Konta where her experience proved to be the difference between the two which resulted in her running into the world no.1. In fact, if Kerber comes out on top in Saturday’s match, she will rise to World no. 2 in the WTA rankings for the first time in her life. Kerber’s only victory against Williams came in the quarterfinals in Cincinnati in 2012.
And so the stage is set for what is expected to be a cracker of a match as Serena looks to take a step closer towards becoming arguably the best female tennis player of all-time.
-Souvik Singha
