Angelique Kerber stuns Serena Williams 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.

In the ultimate tribute to her childhood hero, Kerber foiled Williams’s bid to match the German great’s tally of grand slam titles, closing out a magnificent 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win in her first major final.

Angelique Kerber has upset Serena Williams 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to win the Australian Open title, ending the six-time champion’s unbeaten streak in finals at Melbourne Park.

The seventh seed would to pressure the champion into 20 unforced errors in the opener, and combined with blistering winners like that, Kerber claims the first set 6-4. Kerber wrangled a 40-love lead after serving for the first set at 5-4, and Williams netted a forehand, rounding off the 40-minute set.

Serena looks confident walking into the Rod Laver Arena, where she has found so much success, while Kerber hopes to become the first German to win a Grand Slam since Graf’s last hurrah in 1999.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Really (smiling)? She never is. That’s one reason why she wins so often.

Kerber was not in awe of Williams, although after the match she called her “an inspiration for so many people”. I had also a few downs where I was not so believing in myself. Despite her reputation as the most powerful server on tour, she only put her first serve in play 53 percent of the time in the final. Get used to hearing that”, while her Davis Cup team-mate Andrea Petkovic jokingly proposed marriage: “Angelique. “I am so happy for you”.

She played two superb drop-shots to save game points and then converted a fifth break point of her own when a Williams backhand flew long.

There’s another big first – having saved match point in her first round against Misaki Doi here, Kerber’s the first woman in the Open Era to win a major having saved a match point in the first round. “I’m really fast. But I just wasn’t able to read that one in time”. My dream come true tonight, on this night.

“But this is the challenge I can take”.

“You saw that she is really a great person”, Kerber said.

“I think after the first round I was like, “Okay, now I have nothing to lose anymore”. “Enjoy the moment. I’m so happy for you”.

Courier was back again the following year, celebrating his victory in the same way, but he later told the BBC “I got some sort of stomach virus after swallowing some of the water”. The top seed would break her back, but it was Kerber who would break a second time, with Williams unable to make up. “No. But that is all I could produce today”.

“For sure, I think it’s good to know that if I want to win some tournaments, I have to play better”, she said.

“She was my idol. She still is my idol”, said Kerber, adding that she remembers a lot of the matches, how Graf moved, how she sliced, how she typically beat her opponents quickly.