The 2016 Angelique Kerber tennis season officially began on 5 January with the start of the 2016 Brisbane International. Kerber entered the season as the number 10 ranked player and the defending champion at four tournaments.
Year in detail
Australian Open Series
Australian Open
Kerber entered the 2016 Australian Open as the seventh seed. She saved a match point in the second set against Misaki Doi in the first round before defeating her in three sets to advance to the second round. Following this tight encounter, Kerber defeated Alexandra Dulgheru, Madison Brengle, and compatriot Annika Beck all in comprehensive straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals, her first in Melbourne, where she faced her nemesis Victoria Azarenka, in a rematch of their encounter in Brisbane. With new tactics, Kerber assailed to a lead by two breaks in the first set. Azarenka then fought her way back into the set, but Kerber maintained a one-break lead to close out the set. In the second set, Azarenka resumed her comeback and served for the set twice, but Kerber broke Azarenka both times and had to save four set points in the process too. She ultimately took the match, thus beating Azarenka for the first time in her career, and advanced to her third career Grand Slam semifinal, the most recent one having come in Wimbledon back in 2012.
In the semifinals, Kerber faced the unseeded Johanna Konta and saw off the Briton in straight sets to book a spot in her maiden Grand Slam final, a meeting against world No. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams, who had been in dominant form. There, Kerber surprised Williams in a spectacular match where she was the underdog, and defeated Williams, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6, also stopping Williams from equaling the Open Era record held by Steffi Graf.
With the title, Kerber became the first major champion to save a match point in the first round.[1] She was also the first German of any gender to win a major since Graf at the 1999 French Open.[2][3] Kerber's victory catapulted her ranking to No.2 for the first time in her career.
All matches
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
NTI
P
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
(Bold denotes a top 10 player at the time of the most recent match between the two players, Italic denotes top 50; for players whose ranking changed over the course of the year, see the note for a more complete breakdown by ranking.)
^Keys was ranked inside the top 50 but outside the top 10 for their first meeting (1–0) but inside the top 10 for their following meetings (2–0).
^Beck was ranked outside the top 50 for their first meeting (1–0) but inside the top 50 but outside the top 10 for their second meeting (1–0).
^Doi was ranked outside the top 50 for their first meeting (1–0) but inside the top 50 but outside the top 10 for their second meeting (1–0).
^Mladenovic was ranked inside the top 50 but outside the top 10 for their first meeting (1–0) but outside the top 50 for their second meeting (1–0).
^Kvitová was ranked inside the top 10 for their first meeting (1–0) but ranked inside the top 50 but outside the top 10 for their following meetings (1–1).
^Azarenka was ranked inside the top 50 but outside the top 10 for their first two meetings (1–1) but inside the top 10 for their third meeting (0–1).
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