|
 Kerber closed out the up-and-coming Czech player by claiming the
last two games of an entertaining two-hour, seven-minute contest for
a 6-3 5-7 6-4 victory in Stanford, California.
It was Kerber's fourth victory of the year, tying Williams, who
defeated the German in the Stanford final last year.
Williams's total, of course, includes the first three grand slam
events of the season with a shot at a calendar-year Grand Slam sweep
at the upcoming U.S. Open championships.
In another women's final in the hardcourt run-up to the U.S. Open,
American Sloane Stephens won her first career WTA title with a 6-1
6-2 victory over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Citi Open
in Washington, D.C.
Sloane, ranked 35th in the world, was the only player in the top-40
who had not reached a WTA final in her career. But that changed when
she upset the tournament’s second seed Samantha Stosur of Australia
on Saturday.
Kerber, meanwhile, added another chapter to a friendly rivalry with
Pliskova, who was gunning for her first premier-level WTA tournament
win after three previous losses in finals.
“We always have tough battles when we play each other,” the
27-year-old Kerber said about Pliskova. “And actually I think we'll
have more finals against each other in the future."
Pliskova belted an impressive 52 winners but that total was matched
by 52 unforced errors.
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One last forehand error from fourth seed Pliskova ended the match.
"I would first of all like to congratulate Angie," Pliskova, who had
her right ankle taped late in the second set, told the crowd in her
on-court speech. "She's a really great player.
"I actually just told her that I don't want to play her anymore in
finals - she's 2-0 against me in finals now, so hopefully the next
time I can play against somebody else!"
Despite her runner-up finish, the 23-year-old Pliskova will move
into the top-10 of the world rankings for the first time in her
career.
(Reporting by Tim Wharnsby in Toronto; Editing by Larry Fine)
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