Angelique Kerber has disenchanted Maria Sharapova and is in the eighth round of the Australian Open. The Kieler reminds of the outstanding player of 2016.
From Ulrike Weinrich from Melbourne
Two days after her 30th birthday. On the occasion of her twentieth birthday, Kerber continued her impressive run of success and celebrated her twelfth win in the 12th match of 2018, beating Sharapova 6-1,6-3 in the third round. The Kieler outclassed the Russian like never before and dominated the prestigious duel between the two former number-one players under the floodlights of Melbourne from the first rally.
“I’m so happy and enjoying every moment. I am so glad that 2017 is over and we have the year 2018,”said Kerber after her gala in which she only allowed herself seven unforced mistakes. The next opponent on Monday is either Polish Agnieszka Radwanska or Su-Wei Hsieh from Taiwan.
The spectators at the Rod Laver Arena were eagerly awaiting the exchange of blows from the only remaining Australian Open winners in the field. The newspapers have already suggested that the winner of this match would become the top favourite of the entire tournament.
Her opponent’s Kerber took off her first service game. In her box, the new coach Wim Fissette and Barbara Rittner, Head of Womens Tennis at the DTB, looked very relaxed. Rittner already had a good feeling at the beginning of the happy slam:”Angie is believed to have had no such disappointing year in 2017. She is physically fit and has a better body tension. Wim Fissette has done a great job,”Rittner said in a tennisnet interview:”We see an improvement in Angie compared to 2016 – but with the same expression of the time – coupled with self-confidence and her perfect countergame.” Two years ago, Kerber had won the Majors Down Under and in New York and was the first German after Steffi Graf to jump onto the tennis throne.
Sharapova hardly had anything to oppose Kerber in the first round. The world rankings-16. pulled up her dreaded angular play and got the opening set after only 29 minutes. Sharapova got into the game better and didn’t allow himself so many mistakes. After a 2-0 deficit, the former best earning athlete in the world broke her opponent Kerber for the first time.
For Sharapova, the return to Melbourne was associated with special emotions. In 2016, she had been tested positively for the prohibited substance of reportingonium at the Australian Open, and her return to the Grand Slam stage in New York last September ended in the round of sixteen. Far too little for the claims of the five-time major champion.
At a score of 3:3, Kerber struggled through her service play and shortly afterwards had three match points. Sharapova had a forehand after 64 minutes – Kerber could hardly believe her luck. In the on-court interview, the 30-year-old gushed out of the 30-year-old.