Rod Laver Arena is ready for the women’s final, which will be starring the two-time and current defending champion Serena Williams versus first-time Slam finalist Angelique Kerber.

Kerber Says No Pressure On Her In Final

In her pre-final press conference, Kerber stated that she “feels confident” with her current play, and that she “doesn’t feel the pressure” on winning like Serena does.

“I don't have so much pressure like she has. This is what I mean that I have nothing to lose. I know I can lose the match. That's why I'm going out there to try to win the match”, Kerber said.

Solid Open to 2016 Season Leads to First Grand Slam Final

It had been a really good start of the season for the current German number one, reaching the final at Brisbane International in the first week. She lost to Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.

Despite the early retirement from the Apia International Sydney, she appeared fully focused during the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. In Melbourne, she made her way to the finals without dropping a set after a first round scare. There, she battled back from one set and a match point down to Japanese Misaki Doi. In the quarterfinals, she took her payback for the Brisbane final by defeating two-time Australian Open Champion Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka had been one of the favorites for this year’s title other than Serena Williams.

The encounter with Serena in the final will be the seventh in their careers, with all of them played on hard courts. Serena has won five of the six previous meetings. The only victory for Kerber came in 2012 at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Other than that match, the German has never been able to take so much as a set from Serena in their other clashes. Their last meeting came at the Bank of the West Classic final in Stanford in 2014.

2015 Season and Singapore’s Disappointment

The start of the 2016 season came after a satisfying 2015 for Kerber. She won four of her seven career WTA titles, with all of them at the Premier level and covering all three different surfaces. The year culminated with Kerber qualifying for the WTA Tour Finals for the third time.

She faced a hard time after the disappointing loss against Lucie Safarova during the last match of the round-robin stage. Kerber confirmed that the match has been a turning point in her career, saying “Yeah, for sure, the Safarova match in Singapore, that changed also a lot in myself, you know, because I was telling me after this that I will never let the pressure again wins against me.”

Kerber only needed to take a set from the Czech, who was already out of the tournament in order to advance to semifinals. The pressure got the best of her though and made her suffer a straight sets defeat, closing her the way to next round.

“I was telling, okay, take this challenge and try to take the experience from Singapore and change it”, Kerber added, “So that was the change also for my mentality and my nerves, what I have actually before every match.”

“Nothing to lose,” then for the German, who will be ready to “play against the best player right now” in Serena Williams. Kerber will be taking on the challenge that no one has succeeded in since Samantha Stosur at the 2011 U.S. Open: winning against Serena Williams in a Grand Slam final.