Angelique Kerber was disappointed with her own performance after the clear quarter-final elimination at the WTA Premier Mandatory Tournament in Indian Wells/USA.
“It just wasn’t my day. I made too many simple mistakes,” said the former number one in the world tennis rankings after losing 6-0, 6-2-6 to 20th-placed Russian Daria Kasatkina in just 58 minutes on Thursday.
The two-time Grand Slam winner thus missed the chance of her second tournament victory of the season. Especially in the first set nothing worked out for the Kieler. She only won three points on her own serve, after 21 minutes the round was over.
In the second movement Kerber was already struggling with her imagination and shook her head several times:”That’s so bad,” said the 30-year-old in a clearly audible soliloquy. Kerber, who had won the tournament in Sydney at the beginning of the year, did not win a single break point in the entire match. She also made five double mistakes.
20-year-old Kasatkina, who had previously eliminated world number two Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) and US Open winner Sloane Stephens (USA), is now looking forward to a semi-final duel with Venus Williams: “Venus is a legend. I will try to enjoy every second on the court,” said the Russian.