The 2016 Angelique Kerber tennis season officially began on 5 January with the start of the

2016 Brisbane International The 2016 Brisbane International was a tournament of the 2016 ATP World Tour and 2016 WTA Tour. It was played on outdoor hard courts in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was the eighth edition of the tournament and took place at the Queensland ...

. Kerber entered the season as the number 10 ranked player and the defending champion at four tournaments.

Year in detail

Australian Open Series

Australian Open

Kerber entered the

2016 Australian Open The 2016 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of event ...

as the seventh seed. She saved a match point in the second set against Misaki Doi in the first round before defeating her in three sets to advance to the second round. Following this tight encounter, Kerber defeated Alexandra Dulgheru,

Madison Brengle Madison Brengle (born April 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. Her biggest success she had in early 2015, reaching her first WTA Tour final in January, followed by a fourth round major event appearance at the Australian Open. I ...

, and compatriot Annika Beck all in comprehensive straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals, her first in Melbourne, where she faced her nemesis Victoria Azarenka, in a rematch of their encounter in Brisbane. With new tactics, Kerber assailed to a lead by two breaks in the first set. Azarenka then fought her way back into the set, but Kerber maintained a one-break lead to close out the set. In the second set, Azarenka resumed her comeback and served for the set twice, but Kerber broke Azarenka both times and had to save four set points in the process too. She ultimately took the match, thus beating Azarenka for the first time in her career, and advanced to her third career Grand Slam semifinal, the most recent one having come in Wimbledon back in 2012. In the semifinals, Kerber faced the unseeded Johanna Konta and saw off the Briton in straight sets to book a spot in her maiden Grand Slam final, a meeting against world No. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams, who had been in dominant form. There, Kerber surprised Williams in a spectacular match where she was the underdog, and defeated Williams, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6, also stopping Williams from equaling the Open Era record held by

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

. With the title, Kerber became the first major champion to save a match point in the first round. She was also the first German of any gender to win a major since Graf at the

1999 French Open The 1999 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 24 May until 6 June. It was the 103rd staging of the French Open, and the second Gran ...

. Kerber's victory catapulted her ranking to No.2 for the first time in her career.

All matches

Singles matches

Doubles matches

Tournament schedule

Singles schedule

Kerber's 2016 singles tournament schedule is as follows:

Yearly records

Head-to-head matchups

(Bold denotes a top 10 player at the time of the most recent match between the two players, ''Italic'' denotes top 50; for players whose ranking changed over the course of the year, see the note for a more complete breakdown by ranking.)

Finals

Singles: 8 (3–5)

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Earnings

Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted. Bold denotes tournament win