Angelique Kerber is on her 30th birthday. The Australian Open is celebrating its third birthday. The Kieler defeated Donna Vekic 6-4,6-1 and will now meet Maria Sharapova on Saturday.
From Ulrike Weinrich from Melbourne
In the end, the audience sang a happy birthday song to the winner of the day. Angelique Kerber looked happily into the distance and could be completely satisfied on her honour day:”I think I’m going to have a nice dinner with my team tonight,”she said after the convincing performance, which she finished after 70 minutes with an irresistible overhead ball.
For the “rendezvous” with the “ex”, Kerber had entered the Margaret Court Arena a little over an hour and a half earlier in a highly concentrated manner. Although the spokesperson for the stadium had introduced her as a birthday child, the Kieler initially denied herself all too solemn gestures. In the Melbourne glowing furnace, Kerber started at 37 degrees Celsius with the confidence of a player who has long since found herself back on track after a disappointing season. Ten victories from ten games in 2018 and the tournament victory in Sydney last Saturday have long since made the left-hander a title candidate at Grand Slam level.
Vekic, who has been coached by Kerbers former coach Torben Beltz for a few weeks now, was the favourite, but she started with a lot of pressure and won the break 3:1. Subsequently, however, the Croatian, who had a relationship with Stan Wawrinka, hinted at her potential and met the Australian Open winner from 2016 at eye level. Vekic won three games in a row, but was visibly annoyed by a screaming baby in the stands. The chair referee had no sympathy for that.”Should I have it thrown out, or what?”he asked rhetorically.
In the decisive phase of the first set, Kerber could rely on her much improved serve. Her new coach Wim Fissette had worked hard on the former weak point of the former number one in the preparation phase on the Canary Islands and in Poland. After winning the first round,”Angie” continued to push the pressure and left the world rankings-52. Vekic no longer come to fruition. After 1-1, Kerber won five games in a row.
On Saturday the world rankings-16 will meet. to Maria Sharapova. The Russian and Kerber are the only remaining players in the field who have already won the Happy Slam. Sharapova won 6-1,7-6 (7-4) against Latvian Anastasija Sevastova on Thursday.