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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 31 JANUARY 2016 Sport 54 TENNIS Angelique Kerber upsets Serena Williams to win stunning final Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber spoke of her pride after pulling off a shock victory against Serena Williams to win her first major title. KERBER defied the odds to win 6-4 3-6 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena and prevent Williams from clinching a record-equalling 22nd grand slam crown. The German, who will rise to world number two after the tour- nament, had not reached a major semi-final since 2012 and had never before been past the fourth round in Melbourne. She produced a superb perform- ance, however, when it really mat- tered, ousting Williams to seal one of the biggest upsets in tennis his- tory. "The feeling I have I think it's more proud, proud about my team, my family, my friends," Kerber said. "They are always believing in me. I'm not the easiest person some- times. I had also like a few downs where I was not so believing in my- self. "All my families and friends, they believe always in me. They told me, 'Okay, let's go to work and you will do it some day'. That's true what they said actually at the end. "I'm just happy. I have so many emotions it's like crazy." Kerber said she had "one leg on the plane home" when she went match point down against Misaki Doi in the opening round but she came back from the brink and now, sev- en victories later, is the Australian Open champion. "I think after the first round I was like, 'Okay, now I have nothing to lose anymore'. I was playing actually from round to round better," Kerber said. "For sure I get the second chance here I think in this tournament. I was able to take it. "I was able to take my second chance and to go for it, to play good matches in these two weeks and win at the end the Australian Open." Kerber played some brilliant coun- ter-attacking tennis but her oppo- nent was also well below her best. Williams hit 46 unforced errors - more than double her second high- est tally in the tournament - and was broken five times. The American, however, was gra- cious in defeat, walking round the net to embrace Kerber after the final point had been won. "I think Serena's really a cham- pion. She told me after that she's really happy for me and that I really deserved it," Kerber said. Her win, however, prevents Wil- liams from levelling the women's Open-era record for grand slam titles won, which still belongs to Steffi Graf, Kerber's compatriot and mentor. Graf has kept in regular contact with Kerber since they hit together last year and the seventh seed admits she was pleased to do her childhood idol a favour. "I think I helped Steffi right now," Kerber said with a smile. "Steffi is a champion. She won 22 Grand Slams. That's my first one. I'm really happy about my game I played, about the two weeks. The hard work pays off." The result also marks a another shock defeat for Williams, who saw her hopes of a calendar grand slam ended at the US Open last year when she lost in the semi-final to Roberta Vinci. "It's interesting. Every time I walk in this room, everyone expects me to win every single match, every sin- gle day of my life," Williams said. "As much as I would like to be a ro- bot, I'm not. I try to be. But I do the best that I can. "I try to win every single time I step out there, every single point, but realistically I can't do it. Maybe someone else can, but I wasn't able to do it." Angelique Kerber lifts the Australian Open trophy Doubles delight for Murray MURRAY had lost in the final at both Wimbledon and the US Open last year but he and Soares came from behind in Melbourne to beat Canada's Daniel Nestor and Czech Radek Stepanek 2-6 6-4 7-5. The win could form the second part of a Scottish treble here after Gordon Reid won the wheelchair singles earlier on Saturday while Andy Murray takes on Novak Djokovic in the men's singles final on Sunday. It is the first time two brothers have made separate finals at the same grand slam since Lawrence and Reginald Doherty achieved the feat at Wimbledon in 1906. Andy said he finds it too stress- ful to watch his brother live but the world number two was in the crowd, along with Davis Cup cap- tain Leon Smith, for the presenta- tion ceremony, which took place just after 1am. In his victory speech, an emotion- al Jamie told his brother: "Andy, you should be in bed, I don't know why you're here taking photos." And Jamie later explained: "It was funny to see Andy there at the end. He'd obviously been watching the match in the locker room. I didn't know that. "I thought he left to go back to the hotel obviously. Maybe he came back when he thought we had a chance." Jamie Murray linked up with Soares after splitting with Aus- tralian John Peers at the end of last season and the new duo have enjoyed an excellent start together, winning their first title in Sydney earlier this month and now clinch- ing a second. "For me, the Grand Slam men's doubles, that is going to be the pin- nacle of my career other than Davis Cup obviously," Murray said. "This is what I'm working towards every day, every time I step on the court. It's an amazing feeling to have realised that with Bruno. "We played a great tournament. Did a lot of great things on the court together. I'm pretty speech- less. "I'm really, really happy with our work the last couple of weeks. It's exciting to know where we can go from here." Murray is set to rise up to number two in the world doubles rankings and his escalation marks a remark- able turnaround as just over 12 months ago he sat 41st. "Did I ever consider quitting? I think so. I think probably just be- fore I started playing with John I'd had a rough kind of couple years," Murray said. "I didn't have a partner again. I'd been floating around, didn't really have any direction. I didn't want to keep going like that." It means the Murray brothers will both be world number twos in their respective fields next week and Jamie said the race to reach number one was very much on. "That's amazing. I never thought about that," Jamie said. "I guess the race is on. Bring it on."