Kerber spoils Serena’s history bid

LONDON: Angelique Kerber became the first German woman to win Wimbledon for 22 years as the 11th seed shattered Serena Williams’ bid for Grand Slam history with a shock 6-3, 6-3 victory in Saturday’s final.

Kerber avenged her defeat against Williams in the 2016 Wimbledon title match, overwhelming the seven-time champion with a stunning 65-minute upset on Centre Court.

“I knew I had to play my best tennis against a champion like Serena,” Kerber said. “It was my second chance to play in the final. I think I’m the next one after Steffi who won. That’s amazing.” Williams had hoped to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles by winning her first major prize since becoming a mother in September.

The 36-year-old, who last won a Grand Slam at the 2017 Australian Open, went into the final as the title favourite, even though she was playing only the fourth tournament of her post-pregnancy comeback. But instead world number 10 Kerber sprang a huge surprise, making her Germany’s first female champion at the All England Club since Steffi Graf in 1996.

“It’s obviously disappointing but I am just getting started,” said an emotional Williams after losing in the Wimbledon final for the first time since 2008.

“For all you mums out there I was playing for you. I really tried.” Graf helped Kerber get her game on track earlier in the her career, so it was an especially sweet moment for the 30-year-old to follow in her footsteps at Wimbledon.

Kerber had endured a significant slump last year after wining her previous major titles at the Australian and US Opens in 2016. But, back to her best on the grass at Wimbledon, she needed only 11 winners and one ace to deny an oddly nervous Serena, who contributed to her own downfall with a whopping 24 unforced errors, compared to only five from Kerber.

In the first Wimbledon final for 41 years to feature two women 30 or older, Serena was cheered on by her friend the Duchess of Sussex, golf legend Tiger Woods and Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton. Left needing several life-saving operations to deal with the threat of blood clots after Olympia’s birth, Williams was unable to walk for six weeks and even now is still haunted by harrowing flashbacks to that period.

Winning Wimbledon with Olympia at the tournament with her was supposed to be the crowning glory of her return to the top.

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Pakistan has nice outfit for WC: Naushad

By Abdul Mohi Shah

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan team manager and Test cricketer Col (rtd) Naushad Ali believes emergence of youngsters would help raise a competitive combination for the 2019 World Cup to be held in England.

Talking to The News on Pakistan’s recent success including the tri-series T20 win and comprehensive victory against Zimbabwe in the first one-dayer, Naushad said he was convinced that the youngsters selected in the team had all the guts to build future of Pakistan cricket.

“Beating Australia was not that all easy following their recent mishaps that saw some of their senior players getting banned. Definitely every Australian player would have wanted to win but Pakistan had other ideas. The greenshirst defeated Australia twice in a few days time to stamp their authority on the T20 cricket. By winning yet another T20 series, Pakistan also confirmed its status as No 1 team in the world.”

Naushad who served Pakistan cricket in many capacities-as chief selector, chief operating officer, manager and ICC match referee said that emergence of youngsters was a big news for Pakistan cricket. “Definitely, youngsters have introduced element of competitiveness into Pakistan team. There are quite number of youngsters who are working hard, giving special performance and are making all out efforts to keep their places intact in the national team.”

The former ICC match referee said Pakistan recent success was more due to the performance of youngsters. “Be it a Fakhar Zaman, Hussain Talat, Imamul Haq, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hassan Ali, Usman Shinwari or event Shaheen Shah Afridi, their performance has set a new benchmark for the rest of aspirants. Now team standard would go even further high which is very good news for Pakistan cricket.”

Naushad said these all youngsters could play for the country for years. “The best thing about these youngsters is their age. They can go on to play for the country for years. So with every match their abilities to score runs and take wickets would improve.”

The former manager praised Hussain Talat, Faheem and Shadab for their all round abilities. “We were badly missing service of a genuine all rounder. All three have the ability to fill that vacuum and in fact have already filled that gap. Naushad said that these all rounders would be a key to Pakistan chances in the 2019 World Cup to be hosted by England. “If these youngsters continue to get chance of playing more and more matches, they would be in perfect shape to guide Pakistan to World Cup glory in 2019. After all the World Cup would be played on same grounds where Pakistan won the Champions Trophy in 2017.”