Angelique Kerber beats Karolina Pliskova to win US Open title

September 11, 2016

New York, Sep 11: Angelique Kerber won the US Open on Saturday, marking her rise to world number one with a gritty victory over Karolina Pliskova for her second Grand Slam title of the year.

Kerber

Germany's Kerber, the second seed, rallied from a break down in the third set to beat the hard-hitting 10th-seeded Czech 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

She added the US Open crown to the Australian Open title she claimed in January, breaking Pliskova at love to cap the triumph.

"Amazing to win a second Grand Slam in one year," Kerber said. "It's the best year of my career.

"It all started for me here in New York five years ago when I reached the semi-finals and now I am here with the trophy," she added. "It's incredible."

The 28-year-old left-hander, who beat Serena Williams in the final at Melbourne and lost to the US great in the Wimbledon final, will officially rise to world number one on Monday.

But she was assured of that spot when Pliskova toppled Williams in the semi-finals.

"To be number one and win Grand Slam titles was always my dream ever since I was a little girl," Kerber said. "It means so much."

Pliskova, who had never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam in 17 prior attempts, also beat Venus Williams en route to the title match, becoming just the fourth player to beat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam.

Pliskova was the first player to take a set off Kerber at Flushing Meadows.

Her powerful groundstrokes had Kerber on the run at times, but her 47 unforced errors were, finally, too much to overcome despite her 40 winners.

When Pliskova's final forehand sailed out, Kerber was launched on a joyous celebration, climbing into box where coach Torben Beltz was sitting then returning to the court where the tears flowed.

Kerber took advantage of Pliskova's big-match nerves -- evidenced by a couple of misses at the net -- to break in the opening game.

The quick advantage gave Kerber plenty of breathing room.

She was able to maintain it with authoritative play from the baseline, fending off three break points before cracking Pliskova's serve again when the Czech double-faulted to give her a set point.

Kerber seized her chance with a forehand down the line to pocket the first frame in 44 minutes, having committed just three unforced errors.

Having saved the first break point she faced in the second set, but unable to make inroads on Pliskova's serve, Kerber was beginning to look demoralized by the power shots coming her way.

Pliskova, gaining in confidence, grabbed her first break of the match for a 4-3 lead, lofting a lob over the dejected German.

Serving for the set three games later the Czech fired her fourth ace of the match out wide for set point.

Her rocket to the baseline on the next point left Kerber helpless and the match was level at two sets apiece.

"In the second set, I found some power," Pliskova said.

Faced with the challenge, Kerber admitted she was "a little negative" in the second set, but said she drew on the memory of her Australian Open triumph to will herself on, even after conceding the first break of the third set to fall behind 2-1.

Pliskova couldn't maintain the advantage. Two errors gave a break back to Kerber in the sixth game.

The German was back on top of her game with a hold for 4-3, running for a stinging forehand winner to the corner for game point that fully restored her morale.

"I was trying to stay in the moment," Kerber said. "Trying to play my game."

Even after her capitulation in the final game, Pliskova was looking forward to building on her breakthrough Slam performance.

"It was a great match tonight," Pliskova said. "I knew it was going to be difficult.

"Even though I couldn't get the win, I'm still happy with the way I played the last three weeks. Hopefully there will be many more finals to come.

"I found out I can play against the best players in the world on the big courts," Pliskova added. "Angie proved she is the number one, it was an honor to play her."

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News Network
July 3,2020

Karachi, Jul 3: Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is tired of his constant comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli and says he would rather be compared to the greats at home.

Babar, six years younger to Kohli, has a long way to go in getting close to Kohli's staggering numbers across formats. The India skipper has 70 hundreds to his name and averages more than 50 in all three formats.

"I would be more happy if you compare to me say a Javed Miandad, Muhammad Yousuf or Younis Khan. Why compare me to Kohli or any Indian player?" asked the 25-year-old, who is in England with the national team, said in an online media interaction on Thursday.

Babar has scored 16 international hundreds and averages more than 50 in ODIs and T20s. In 26 Tests, he has scored 1850 runs at 45.12.

He also said that he is not targeting any English bowler for the series next month.

"I don’t see who the bowler is or his reputation. I just try to play each ball on merit. England no doubt has a top bowling attack and they have advantage of playing at home but this is a challenge I want to score runs in," he said.

Before the squad’s departure for England, Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan said that pacer Joffra Archer will be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.

Babar said that he would try to play every English bowler on merit but conceded that after getting runs in Australia last year, he was keen to leave his footprint in the coming Test and T20 series in England.

Reminded that some former Test players had already written off Pakistan for the England series, Babar said they were entitled to their opinion.

"But we don’t have a bad team and already we have been enjoying our training. It is good to be back on the field after such a long lay-off. I think we have the bowlers to trouble them like Abbas, Naseem, Shaheen and others while we have some experience in our batting line-up."

Babar said he would love to get a triple century in a Test match.

"When you score a century, you naturally want to go on and convert that into a double or a triple century. This is something I would like to do during the Test series.

"I like to play my natural game but my selection of shots depends on the conditions and bowlers."

Babar also ruled out any problems in the Pakistan dressing room due to the presence of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was sacked last year.

But he said that since Muhammad Rizwan had been playing in all formats for Pakistan in recent times, he would be the starting keeper in the Test series ahead of Sarfaraz.

"I think we first have to give Rizwan a proper chance and Sarfaraz is there as back up."

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
June 6,2020

Mumbai, Jun 6: Reminiscing about his 'special knock' of 208 runs from 153 balls, Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma revealed why his wife Ritika had got emotional after he smashed his third double century in ODIs.

Rohit narrated the incident during his appearance in Episode 2 of the 'Open nets with Mayank'.

The batsman, who was accompanied by Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank on the show, said his wife thought that he had twisted his hand while diving for the 196th run during the innings.

"As you can see my wife got emotional there, this day was special as it was my anniversary. Probably the best gift I could give it to her while I am on the field, it was quite emotional though," said Rohit during the candid chat.

"When I came from the ground, I just asked her why did you (Ritika) cry? So she told me that she thought I (Rohit) twisted my hand when I dived for my 196th run and that was a little worrying factor for her, she got little emotional of because of that I guess," Rohit added.

In the match, the 32-year-old scored 208 runs with 13 fours and 12 sixes against Sri Lanka at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

This enabled India to post a score of 392/4 in the allotted fifty overs.

India then went on to win the match by 141 runs.

"To be honest I was going pretty slow, I never thought I will get to a double hundred but once you cross 125, I feel it gets easier for you because bowlers are under pressure. Unless you make a mistake I don't think you can get out," said Rohit.

Rohit has scored two double hundreds against Sri Lanka and one against Australia in ODIs. The right-handed batsman is the only cricketer to make three double hundreds in ODI history.

Rohit, Shikhar, and Mayank would have been in action for Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, and Kings XI Punjab respectively, had the Indian Premier League (IPL) commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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