Kerber, Queen of USA

But the second-seeded German fought back, showing the finishing kick of a champion in winning 24 of the last 34 points, and breaking Pliskova twice to seal a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory for her first US Open championship and second Grand Slam title of the year. She also became the first German since Steffi Graf in 1996 to win the US Open title.

After Pliskova pounded a forehand long on championship point, Kerber collapsed in a heap on the baseline. Then she climbed into the players’ box to embrace her coach Torben Beltz as the roars cascaded down from the promenade at the world’s largest tennis stadium. 

The 28-year-old German, who was already due to supplant Serena Williams as the world No1 when ’s rankings are released, backed up that mantle by outlasting Pliskova over 2hr 7min at Arthur Ashe Stadium. She will become the oldest player to make her debut atop the rankings, besting a mark previously held by Jennifer Capriati by three years.

Kerber, who defeated Williams in the Australian Open after facing match point in the opening round before making it to the Wimbledon final this summer, rang in her career achievement with a bang.

Pliskova, the rangy Czech who had never made it past the third round of a major in 17 previous appearances, had shown no sign of nerves in her seismic upset of Serena Williams in Thursday night’s semi-final. But the No10 seed, whose 451 aces are the most on the women’s tour this year, was broken in her opening service game here as Kerber pressed for lengthy rallies that exposed her movement. 

From there the players traded holds until Pliskova was serving to stay in the opener at 3-5, when Kerber ripped a forehand winner down the line to break for the first set after 40 minutes. 

Kerber made only three errors in the first set, playing astonishingly clean tennis while Pliskova’s go-for-broke approach resulted in 17 errors – a total that would balloon to 47 over the course of the match.

The Czech finally broke through at three-all in the second set when she forced Kerber into an error for her fifth break-point chance of the afternoon. This time Pliskova converted with a gorgeous lob winner at the net that forced a decider and brought the crowd of 23,777 to their feet. Her 23 points at the net in 28 attempts left Kerber flummoxed. Kerber lost her first set of the tournament against a player who beat her soundly a few weeks ago. 

As the match reached toward two hours – only the third women’s final of the last 21 at Flushing Meadows to extend the three-set distance – the Czech continued to thrive on the shorter rallies while Kerber was getting the better of the exchanges the longer the point extended. 

Kerber is the fourth left-handed woman to win the US Open after Monica Seles (1991-92), Martina Navratilova (198384, 1986-87) and Evelyn Sears (1907).

Pliskova had entered the US Open on a high after defeating the world No3, Garbiñe Muguruza, before topping Kerber en route to the Cincinnati title. But the 24-year-old, who will reach a career-high ranking of No6 on Monday, went into the fortnight as the lone player in the top 20 who had never made it to the quarter-finals of a major, prompting murmurs over her nerve on the sport’s biggest stages. 

But in the end it was Kerber’s superior fitness that won the day as she became the first woman other than Williams to win two major titles in one year since Justine Henin in 2007.