Australian Open 2016: Angelique Kerber stuns Serena Williams to win her first Slam title

In a stunner, Serena Williams was dropped from the Australian Open. 

On the verge of being bounced out by 5’3″ Japanese talent Misaki Doi in the opening round, Angelique Kerber had to call on some new found maturity and belief. It was a soul searching evaluation that would prove to be the most rewarding self-reflection of her career.

Less than two weeks later, the German produced the tournament of her life, culminating in a Grand Slam championship over arguably the greatest player ever in women’s tennis, Serena Williams.

Kerber clinched her maiden major title with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Williams to become the first German player to win a Slam championship on the women’s tour since her idol Steffi Graf did so at the 1999 French Open. Ending that long drought for her country was just as stunning an accomplishment for Kerber as it was defeating the sport’s premier pressure player with the trophy on the line.

The German set a determined tone in the opener to place herself in that lofty position and, obliged by Williams’ backhand being off, saw her capture the first break of the match in the third game. Although Williams raised her level by breaking in the sixth game with a forehand winner to even the set 3-3, the American ace did not bring her top serve to the final and broke herself the next game with one of many forgettable volleys for her. Kerber took that advantage of regaining the lead to hold on and take the first set 6-4.

A much improved Serena appeared in the second set, finding more rhythm on serve and stability with her groundstrokes to break Kerber in the fourth game. After consolidating her serve in the next game, Williams went on to keep her break advantage to even the match 6-3.

Not deterred by Williams raising her level, Kerber believed in herself to throw her best performance for the final set. After a bathroom break to regroup, the No.7 seed remained her top level while seeing Williams get off to another slow, tight start to take a 2-0 lead. The comeback master that is Williams came right back to take the next two games only for her serve to desert her again. The German continued the topsy-turvy final set by taking the next three games with countless passing shots through shaky net play from Williams.

Down 5-2, was it time for another legendary comeback in the many from Williams? It seemed to be the case, as she calmly held from 0-30 down to force Kerber to serve for the match. A noticeably tight Kerber and calm Williams’ lead to the top seed breaking her opponent at 30 with a footwork absence forehand well long.

But at 5-4, Williams again could neither find her top serve nor her best net play on the evening, as Kerber sealed a dream moment for her with a backhand pass that Williams could not put in the court. The lefty proceeded to go down on the court in tears and received a heartening hug from Williams in congratulating the women who gave her just her fifth defeat in 26 Slam finals.

Kerber’s win denied Williams the chance to tie Graf’s Slam total of 22 Slams and rules out the difficult taste of winning a Grand Slam in the calendar year for Williams once again. The 28-year-old also became the first left handed player to win in Melbourne since Monica Seles won it in 1996 and got just her second win in seven attempts versus Williams.