A seventh Australian Open title and 22nd major title overall will go on the line when world number one Serena Williams faces first-time Grand Slam finalist Angelique Kerber in Saturday night’s women’s final.
Victory for Serena in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year will see her take the first step towards achieving the Golden Calendar Slam, which has only been achieved by Steffi Graf (in 1988).
But someone who will be keen to prevent that from happening is Graf’s compatriot, Angelique Kerber, who has come a long way since reaching the semi-finals of the US Open in 2011 while ranked 92nd in the world.
Since then, she has broken into the world’s top ten, won seven WTA titles (four of them last year), reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2012 and has now become the first female German since Anke Huber in 1996 to reach the final at Melbourne Park.
There, she will face the almighty force that is Serena Williams, who has romped through the draw with embarrassing ease despite being in doubt for the tournament after suffering a knee injury at the Hopman Cup in Perth three weeks ago.
The world number one did not face a single seed until the quarter-finals, but when she did, she dismissed them in typical fashion, exposing Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska as pretenders to the Australian Open crown.
Her form in those two matches alone, where she lost five and four games respectively, will see her start the prohibitive favourite on Saturday night, but seventh-seeded Kerber will do everything in her might to ensure that her maiden Grand Slam final does not end in such a humiliating defeat.
After saving a match point in her first round match against Misaki Doi, Kerber went on to win her subsequent matches in straight sets, including defeating two-time champion Victoria Azarenka for the first time in the quarter-finals.
Her experience then proved to be the difference as she defeated British sensation Johanna Konta in the semi-finals, and now the ultimate assignment awaits – tackling the world number one in the biggest match of her career.
Reaching the final represents a twelve-month turnaround from last year, whereby the German was upset in the first round by Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu. But with the fresh rankings points she has earned this year, the 28-year-old will be guaranteed to crack the top four for the first time after the Australian Open.
In fact, she could even rise to world number two should she become just the fourth player (after Venus Williams twice, Maria Sharapova and Samantha Stosur) to defeat Serena Williams in a Grand Slam final.
Saturday night’s final will mark the seventh career meeting between the pair, the second at Grand Slam level and also the second in a final, Williams winning their most recent encounter in the final of the Stanford event in 2014 in straight sets.
Kerber’s only victory against Williams came in the quarter-finals at Cincinnati in 2012, when the American had just won the gold medal in London, and until February 2014 it was the last time the American lost a match in straight sets.
And so the stage is set for what should be a cracking final as world number one Serena Williams attempts to lay the first stone towards a possible Golden Calendar Slam, achieved only by Steffi Graf in 1988.
Here is everything you need to know heading into the women’s final.
Serena Williams (1) versus Angelique Kerber (7)
Saturday, January 30
Not before 7:30pm
Rod Laver Arena
Head-to-head: S Williams 5-1
At Grand Slams: S Williams 1-0
In finals: S Williams 1-0
Last meeting: S Williams 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, final, 2014 Bank of the West Classic
Serena Williams’ road to the final
Round 1: defeated Camila Giorgi 6-4, 7-5
Round 2: defeated Hsieh Su-wei 6-1, 6-2
Round 3: defeated Daria Kasatinka 6-1, 6-1
Round 4: defeated Margarita Gasparyan 6-2, 6-1
Quarter-finals: defeated Maria Sharapova (5) 6-4, 6-1
Semi-finals: defeated Agnieszka Radwanska (4) 6-0, 6-4
Angelique Kerber’s road to the final
Round 1: defeated Misaki Doi 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
Round 2: defeated Alexandra Dulgheru 6-2, 6-4
Round 3: defeated Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3
Round 4: defeated Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0
Quarter-finals: defeated Victoria Azarenka (14) 6-4, 7-5
Semi-finals: defeated Johanna Konta 7-5, 6-2
Stats that matter
* This will be Serena Williams’ seventh Australian Open final and 26th Grand Slam final overall, while for Angelique Kerber this will be her first Grand Slam final. Williams will be aiming for her 22nd Grand Slam title, and Kerber her first.
* Williams is undefeated in six previous Australian Open finals, of which three were in straight sets: the opponent on these occasions were Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina and Sharapova again in 2007, 2009 and 2015 respectively.
* Kerber will become the 15th different Grand Slam opponent of Williams in a Grand Slam final. Only three of them (Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Samantha Stosur) have defeated Williams in a Grand Slam final, with Stosur winning on her only attempt at the 2011 US Open.
* Williams is 5-2 against first-time Grand Slam finalists in her career; the only losses were to Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004 and Stosur at the 2011 US Open.
The wins were against Jelena Jankovic (2008 US Open), Vera Zvonareva (Wimbledon 2010), Agnieszka Radwanska (Wimbledon 2012), Lucie Safarova (2015 French Open) and Garbine Muguruza (Wimbledon 2015).
* Kerber is aiming to become the first German Grand Slam champion of either gender since Steffi Graf won her last major title at the 1999 French Open. She is the first German of either gender to reach the final in Australia since Rainer Schuettler in 2003, and anywhere since Sabine Lisicki at Wimbledon in 2013.
* Despite her dominance at the Australian Open, Williams has never won the title here without dropping a set. The last woman to do this was Maria Sharapova in 2008; that year, she was taken to 7-5 just once, in the final against Ana Ivanovic.
* Should Williams prevail in straight sets, she will win her first Grand Slam tournament without losing a set for the first time since the 2014 US Open.
* This will be the pair’s seventh meeting overall, second at Grand Slam level and second in a final. Serena leads each category 5-1, 1-0 and 1-0 respectively.
* Prior to February 2014, Kerber was the last player to defeat Williams in straight sets, in the quarter-finals of Cincinnati in 2012. That remains the German’s only victory in their head-to-head to date.
* Williams has only ever lost once to a left-handed player at Grand Slam level: to Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open. Had the American won, she would have faced Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals.
Prediction
Serena Williams in straight sets.
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