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U.S. Open women’s final features lesser-known Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber

Karolina Pliskova will play in her first Grand Slam event final when she plays Angelique Kerber for the U.S. Open title on Saturday.
(Timothy A. Clary / Getty Images)
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On the witty NBC comedy series “30 Rock,” the president of the fictional television network, Jack Donaghy (played by Alec Baldwin), laments the loss of all his key sports programming and comes up with an inspired solution: Tennis Night in America.

Tennis Night in America would involve either a weekly series of rail-thin Eastern European women or swarthy Slavic men with difficult-to-pronounce names. There is, for example, the much-awaited matchup between Slawomir Meleczko and Krzysztof Mlynarkiewicz in the prestigious Barnett Cup semifinals.

The gag is clear: In a world fascinated by the NFL and other major televised pro and college sports entities, trying to coax the viewing public into watching tennis, played by comparative unknown foreigners, can be a tough sell.

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Reality collides with fiction — just a little — at this year’s U.S. Open women’s final, when the unheralded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic goes for her first major championship against a player that has only this year started to make a greater name for herself in Angelique Kerber of Germany.

Kerber has one major championship under her belt, the Australian Open, and now has a chance to make it two. After Thursday’s semifinal results, in which Pliskova eliminated American Serena Williams, Kerber will become the 22nd woman in history to earn the No. 1 ranking in the world.

Moreover, the 28-year-old will also be the oldest women’s player to make her debut at No. 1, and is just the second German-born player to do so, after icon Steffi Graf. As women’s tennis undergoes the beginnings of a changing of the guard, Kerber has a chance to perhaps win many more.

Noteworthy in a year full of triumphs, Kerber’s most recent meeting with Pliskova ended in a one-sided loss, 6-3, 6-1, in the final at Cincinnati in August.

“I remember the Cincinnati final,” said Kerber, who is 4-3 against Pliskova. “I was actually really tired because I came from Rio and I had a lot of tough matches there. Here, I have one day off [Friday], so I can really prepare for the final. I know how she is playing. I know she has a big serve.

“I will go out there trying … to take the revenge, of course.”

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