There have been 126 matches in the women’s Australian Open so far in Melbourne and just one remains as Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber get set to play the first Grand Slam final of the year on Saturday.
Serena Williams will be appearing in her seventh Australian Open final and unfortunately for the six opponents who have faced her before the American has won all of her previous finals. Angelique Kerber will be playing her first final at this level.
Serena has been in sensational form this fortnight and if the odds are to be believed it is a formality for her to equal Steffi Graf’s 22 Grand Slam wins with a victory in this match.
Few would have expected the American legend to have too many difficulties in the earlier rounds of this tournament but the emphatic way she dispatched of Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarter final and semi-final was very ominous for whoever she would meet in this final.
In fairness since the opening round the German star Kerber has been impressive in her own right. She has seen off Victoria Azarenka along the way to this final and while her draw was much smoother than Williams’ she hasn’t dropped a set since the opening round and her confidence will be high.
Experience has to be a major factor in this final. Serena has been in 25 previous Grand Slam finals and has won 21 of them. She knows how to deal with the occasion whereas Kerber, appearing in her first, might be heavily nervous and things might be a bit alien to her which could lead to a slow start and that is something Kerber can ill afford.
Serena leads the head to head between the two 5-1 which includes winning their last four meetings and she has won them all in straight sets. As well as Kerber has played this fortnight I’m expecting Serena to win this in straights as well. If Sharapova couldn’t contain her I’m not sure Kerber can.
Given that I’m confident Serena wins in straight sets the question then becomes whether to take her on the -5.5 game handicap or the under 19.5 games and given that the latter offers us a 6-4 6-3 type scoreline I’m going to take the games option. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the sets is extremely one sided but just in case they’re not it gives us a stronger chance of winning.
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