Angelique Kerber is into her maiden grand slam final after a straight-sets win over Johanna Konta ended the Brit's fairy tale run at the Australian Open.
The German seventh seed, in her third major semi-final, claimed a 7-5 6-2 victory against Konta on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.
Kerber will meet world number one Serena Williams in Saturday's decider after the American's brilliant display in a win over Agnieszka Radwanska earlier in the day.
"It's an unbelievable feeling to play here"
>#Kerber through to
>#ausopen final! Watch more
>https://t.co/Ek545Zh2D9>https://t.co/c3Az1oPNFi
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen)
>January 28, 2016While Kerber stayed steady, Konta, in her first slam semi, was left to rue mistakes as she committed 36 unforced errors and in particular in key moments.
The 28-year-old Kerber took advantage when Konta missed her first serve, winning 13 of the 21 points on her second.
Konta tried to impose herself early, without much success, but that slowly turned as she came from 3-0 down to win four consecutive games.
Just as Konta appeared to gaining the upper-hand, she made errors off both sides and served a double fault to give up serve in the 11th game. A slight delay – rain fell on a sun-bathed Rod Laver Arena – did not rattle Kerber, who served out the set to love.
Kerber started the second set in the ideal way, an overhead smash seeing her break in the opening game.
Konta, bidding to become the first British woman since 1977 to advance to a major final, was unable to seriously threaten Kerber. She did make Kerber serve for her place, and she did that comfortably – completed by yet another Konta error.
STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN
Kerber [7] bt Konta 7-5 6-2
ACES
Kerber - 1
Konta - 2
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Kerber - 14/11
Konta - 18/36
BREAK POINTS WON
Kerber - 5/12
Konta - 2/5
FIRST SERVE PERCENTAGE
Kerber - 54
Konta - 64
PERCENTAGE OF POINTS WON ON FIRST/SECOND SERVE
Kerber - 64/68
Konta - 59/38
TOTAL POINTS
Kerber - 68
Konta - 51
Comments
SHARE