Steffi Graf’s protégé Kerber beats Serena to win Australian Open

German Angelique Kerber pulled out a stunner to shock one and all by defeating 21-time Major victor and defending champion Serena Williams to lift the women’s singles crown at the Australian Open – her first Grand Slam – at Melbourne Park here on Saturday.

Serena Williams of the United States walks to her chair during a break in her women’s singles final match against Angelique Kerber of Germany at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Ja… An unsuccessful bid to win the Calendar Slam in the 2015 prompted the world No. 1 to shut down her season, but the 34-year-old was far more philosophical about her first three-set Grand Slam final defeat. “It sounds insane, but I can say I’m a Grand Slam champion now”, said Kerber, who was in a final for the first time in 33 major tournaments.

She is the first German woman to win here since Graf in 1994, and the first lefthander to hoist the Daphne Akhurst Trohpy since Monica Seles in 1996. I worked for this my whole life.

“When I played in the first round I was a match point down”.

Zhang managed four wins in the span of 10 days after waiting eight years for her first win in a Grand Slam main draw.

Both players suffered early breaks in the third set but the championship appeared to have tipped in the German’s favour in a marathon sixth game when she finally converted her fifth break point to take a 4-2 lead.

“I was actually really happy for her. She’s been around a really long time”.

Williams cut down on the errors to win the second set 6-3 and kept alive her hopes to equal Graf’s record of winning 22 Grand Slam titles.

According to reports, Williams played a seemingly weak game as she missed several forehands, backhands and swinging volleys – the latter known as one of her most lethal shots.

But as she has done so often before, Williams slowly found her way back into the contest in the second set after notching 23 unforced errors in the opener.

Kerber had won just once against Williams in six previous meetings, but she had some help from the world’s No. 1 in this one.

Williams opened the match positively enough with a love service hold. “I try to. But, you know, I do the best that I can”. I got a second chance, and I took that chance to be here in the finals to play against Serena. When I won the first set, when I won against (Victoria) Azarenka, that shows me that I really am a good player and I can show it as well on the big courts.

After Alcott collected his trophy following his 6-2, 6-2 win over Wagner, Djokovic stopped his practice session on Rod Laver Arena to pose with Alcott on two occasions, putting his arm around Alcott and smiling for the cameras.

“I think my phone is exploding right now”, said Kerber, who received personal congratulations from Graf and German chancellor Angela Merkel.