Angelique Kerber has admitted that she was determined to live up to her own expectation levels by beating Karolina Pliskova in Saturday's US Open final.
The second seed earned a 6-4 4-6 6-4 victory in New York to become just the second female player to lift two Grand Slam titles in the same year since 2007.
Kerber, who overtook Serena Williams to become world number one earlier this week, kicked off 2016 by going all the way at the Australian Open and also reached the final of Wimbledon in July.
Speaking after her latest triumph, the German told reporters: "What's happened in the last two weeks, it's just incredible. Also, how I was dealing with the pressure when I came here and everybody was asking me about the number one.
"This was what I was trying to improve with the pressure and also today, it's always tough to go in the final when I know the opponent beat me like two or three weeks ago. That was also a challenge and I told myself, 'OK, I will do everything on court today to win the match against Karolina'."
Kerber has also now become the first German winner of the US Open since Steffi Graf in 1996.
Daniel Lewis
