Kerber believes she can win Aussie Open title, says pressure is on Serena

MELBOURNE—Angelique Kerber, who will face world No. 1 Serena Williams in the final of the Australian Open on Saturday, believes she has a chance to upset the 21-time Grand Slam champion.

The 28-year-old Kerber has never won a major title. However, she did manage to beat Serena in the quarterfinals in Cincinnati in 2012. Head to head, Williams is 5-1 against Kerber, last beating her in Miami and Stanford in straight sets in 2014.

“I'm playing without pressure, without nothing,” Kerber said. “I think when you ask a lot of people, I think most will say, ‘OK, Serena will win.’ But this is the challenge I can take. I go out there, I don't have nothing to lose. I don't have so much pressure like she has. That's why I'm going out there to try to win the match.”

Last year the German won four titles, but failed to reach the second week at any majors. However, she has beaten a number of very good players over the past 10 months, including Maria Sharapova, Garbine Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Petra Kvitova. And in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, she took down the red-hot Victoria Azarenka.

But to stun Serena, she is going to have to play flawlessly.

“Serena, you never know how she's serving,” Kerber said. “She's serving [unbelievably] good. She's returning good. I think the first few balls, they are really deciding the match. I must be there from the first point and [play] very deep. When I'm too short, she's just going [to go] for it. She is making winner, winner and winner. She's the world No. 1. She's the champion. She won everything.

"But still, I will go out there to try to challenge her, playing good tennis. I know that I won against her once, so I can beat her. But I must play [the] best I can play.”