After her upset over Azarenka just 2 nights ago, Angelique Kerber emerged victorious once more against Johanna Konta 7-5, 6-2 to book her place in a Grand Slam final for the first time at 28 years of age.
Konta, who was born in Australia, made history herself by setting up this semi final clash with her German opponent. Unfortunately, her pile of unforced errors tonight proved to be the deciding factor. Kerber, who returned very well against Azarenka, continued to do so in this match, rising to the occasion. In many ways this was quite the unexpected semifinal match up.
Serving first to begin the match, Konta found herself immediately down 0-40 due to errant groundstrokes. She saved all 3 break points, only yo dump a forehand into the net to give the early break. In her next service game, she repeated the same mistake for 0-3. The rallies were intense but often cut short from an error off Konta’s racket. Nerves looked to be the big factor, which is understandable. Finally, she earns a break point with a big forehand neat the sideline, and followed it in with an overhead to get on the scoreboard. In the 6th game, a net cord goes against Kerber, and it was back on serve at 3-3 in almost the blink of an eye. Konta carried the momentum to hold at love for 4-3, a dramatic turnaround. At 5-5 however, the German who is ranked over 40 places higher than the Brit, broke to serve out the set. Just then out of nowhere a slight rain drizzle forced a delay. Play was suspended, and it looked as if luck was on Konta’s side. But once play resumed, it was clear that Kerber picked up right where she left off, going up 40-0 for 3 set points. In a split decision Konta mixed things up by going for a dropshot, but Kerber chased it down with time to spare and hit into the open court to take the set.
Set 2 began with a break as well for Kerber to take a commanding 2-0 lead. The next game Konta held serve but Kerber responded by holding her own at love for 3-1. As she has done throughout the week, the German anticipated well and often took the ball early on the return of serve to set up the point. Konta quickly faced more break points at 15-40, but she saved both to deuce. For the few instances where Kerber’s big return failed to win her the point, Konta instead chose to pull the trigger instead of staying in the point, and thus allowed another break for 1-4. This point perfectly illustrated the theme of this match. Indeed, Konta racked up 36 errors compared to just 11 for Kerber. Down 1-5, Konta made a formidable push and held for 2-5. Then the next game at 40-30, first match point on Kerber’s racket, she went for a slice serve out wide. You guessed it: Konta made her final error of the day with a return that landed long.
