Angelique Kerber wins Wimbledon for first time as Serena Williams is beaten in final

1/208
James Benge14 July 2018

The script had called for Serena Williams, mere months after the birth of daughter Olympia, to celebrate her return to tennis in glorious fashion on Centre Court. Unfortunately, no-one had shared a copy with Angelique Kerber.

The German claimed her first Wimbledon title in just over an hour with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Williams that ended the American’s hopes of matching Margaret Court’s record 24 Grand Slam singles titles, for now at least.

Kerber’s passage to the final had seen her face a host of tennis’ biggest hitters and use their power against them, most notably Jelena Ostapenko, and she was ready to pounce on Williams’ early errors, outlasting the favourite in a rally that ended with the American firing into the net.

If Kerber had been expecting any reaction bar fire and fury she was mistaken. Immediately Williams was on the offensive, recapturing the break to love.

AFP/Getty Images

However, there were times when the 36-year-old struggled to harness her hitting, making 14 unforced errors in the first set to three from Kerber. It was an all too familiar sight to see Williams charge up to the net to hit a winner only for the ball to cannon into the net.

Kerber rattled off three straight games, two of them breaks, to take the first set in just half an hour, only the second Williams had dropped all tournament.

The seven-time champion’s consistent inconsistency was typified at 1-1 in the second when an accidental drop return was chased down by Kerber, who could do nothing more but tee up Williams to hit a winner with almost the entire court to aim at. She contrived to put it long.

REUTERS

Kerber’s ability to just get the ball in play paid crucial dividends in the sixth game, when her flailing return of a backhand landed right at Williams feet and the American was unable to get the ball back into play, handing Kerber two break points. A brilliant forehand pass took her within two games of victory.

The Kerber serve had rarely been consistent enough to carry her through matches without incident and Williams would not give up without a fight. Her hitting in the final game was explosive but at 30-30 the German found a way through with a gorgeous forehand pass.

When Williams erred on the next point Kerber dropped to the ground in disbelief. She was not the only one stunned by the result, but not for a moment in this contest had she been outgunned by her magnificent opponent.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in