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There will be no Golden Calendar Slam for Serena Williams this year after the world number one was stunned by Angelique Kerber in three sets in what can only be described as one of the best – if not the best – finals of the 2016 Australian Open.
Entering the championship match, all the hype surrounded whether Williams could not only become just the second woman after Steffi Graf in 1988 to achieve the Golden Calendar Slam, but also equal the German great on 22 Grand Slam titles.
But it was only appropriate that it would be another German, Angelique Kerber, who would deny the American great those two records by winning one the match.
Kerber struck a pre-match blow by saying that “all the pressure was on Serena” as the world number one had been in dominant form entering the championship match, whereby she’d won her six lead-up matches without dropping a set.
This included straight-sets dismissals of Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska.
But psychology seemed to work in the German’s favour when Kerber took the opening set 6-4, after breaking early in the set. This left Williams to lament the concession of her first set in this year’s championships.
Having risen up the rankings in the four-and-a-half years since reaching the semi-finals of the 2011 US Open while ranked 92nd, it was clear that Kerber was here to play and was showing no signs of pressure or nerves.
At this stage, history favoured the world number one, as she was not only undefeated in Grand Slam finals that have lasted three sets, the most recent of which she contested at last year’s French Open, she was also undefeated in six previous Australian Open finals, including last year’s romp over Maria Sharapova.
However, she hadn’t won a Grand Slam final from a set down since defeating Lindsay Davenport in the final of the 2005 Australian Open, and has only ever done it twice. The other time was to elder sister Venus at Wimbledon in 2003.
But an error-riddled service game early in the final set would prove to be the American’s downfall as she fell behind 0-2. Kerber would then move out to 5-2, and could smell the title before Williams added further drama to the match by breaking the German as she attempted to serve for the title at 5-3.
With the final set back on serve, the stage was set for a grandstand finish to the women’s tournament at the Australian Open. Williams had a chance to hold for five-all, but Kerber would force deuce, and then earn championship point.
Having failed to serve out the match a game earlier, Kerber converted after Williams went long, and the American’s dream of achieving the Golden Calendar Slam this year, as well as her eight-match winning streak in Grand Slam finals and six-match winning streak in Australian Open finals, died with it.
Kerber becomes the first German of any gender this millennium to win a Grand Slam, something that in the intervention had eluded the likes of Rainer Schuettler (2003 Australian Open) and Sabine Lisicki (Wimbledon 2013).
She also becomes the first German to win the Australian Open title since Steffi Graf in 1994.
And so, commiserations to the American, who will be eager to bounce back at the French Open in May, but, most important of all, congratulations to Angelique Kerber, the 2016 Australian Open champion who well and truly deserves it.
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