By CURRAN McCAULEY
STANFORD, CALIF. – In a back-and-fourth, rough and tumble final that saw two of tennis’ elite locked in a test of mental endurance, Angelique Kerber of Germany avenged the bitter taste of a loss in last year’s final at the Taube Tennis Center on the Stanford University Campus, taking home the 2015 Bank of The West Classic singles championship a year after falling to Serena Williams.
The fifth seeded Kerber, 29, ended off fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, 23, by a score of 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours and seven minutes. The Stanford crown was the fourth WTA title of the year for Kerber, who came into the tournament as the 14th-ranked player in the world.
Kerber addressed last year’s finals loss noting, “Of course, it was a big motivation for me to win the title here where I lost last year against Serena. But every match starts at zero and it’s different. I went out today and I said just go try to enjoy yourself. I really enjoyed my time on and off the court. The fans are so amazing.”
Kerber adds the Bank of the West title to singles championships in Charleston, South Carolina, Stuttgart, Germany and Birmingham, England. It was in Birmingham that the two opponents last squared off, as Kerber took home a 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4) win in June on a grass surface. The hard-court rematch lived up to expectations as fans were treated to a three-set thriller that was characterized my huge swings in momentum and a lack of consistency from either player.
In the first set of action, Pliskova made 21 unforced errors and committed four double-faults as Kerber was able to break serve three times en-route to a 6-3 victory. Throughout the course of the match, Kerber effectively neutralized Pliskova’s decided advantage in service speed, as Pliskova dropped 10 service games despite a 104 mph to 85 mph advantage in average first serve speed.
In the second set, service games meant even less as Kerber broke serve on four occasions while Pliskova was able to break serve five times. Eventually, Pliskova took the set 7-5, setting up the winner-take-all scenario in the third set of the final.
The third set saw Kerber and Pliskova each break serve early before Kerber was able to hold in the seventh and ninth games. Kerber broke serve in the 10th game of the set to seal the title.
Kerber said of the break-filled match, “We were breaking like every single game. It was up and down. I don’t know. I was just trying to focus on every game because I knew I would have the chance to break it again.” She continued, “I will hope to serve in my next matches a little bit better than I did today.”
Kerber will get the chance to seek a fifth tournament title this season as The US Open Series will continue with Canada’s Rogers Cup in Toronto starting Monday. WTA tour players will look to gain positioning for the US Open as well as the WTA Finals in Singapore at the end of October. For Pilskova, a trip to the top ten of the WTA rankings for the first time in her career was sealed well before the outcome of the final.
The Bank of the West Classic will return to the Stanford campus in July of 2016 as the American hard court season timetable is adjusted slightly in order to accommodate the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro.
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