French Open: Angelique Kerber – The Big Points lack precision

Angelique Kerber had to bid farewell to the French Open 2018 after a great start against Simona Halep. Also because the first in the world rankings showed more consistency in the decisive moments.

She ran after every single ball with her usual passion. Flew back and forth between the corners, with squeaky shoes. Angelique Kerber was in her element in the quarter-finals of the French Open, in the weariness duel against world number one Simona Halep.

But Kerber was not the better of the two players this Wednesday afternoon: With their 7:6 (7:2), 3:6, 2:6 defeat in the red sand of Paris, Kerber simply lacked – despite all tenacity – the necessary dynamism, attack power and sometimes also the last conviction to successfully master the Herculean task against the Romanian running miracle.

“I gave everything, tried everything, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. She was the more aggressive player in the end, that was the key,” said Kerber, who was also denied the first semi-final entry under the Eiffel Tower. Halep, front woman of women’s tennis without winning the Grand Slam Cup, will now play Garbine Muguruza in the last four on Thursday. The Spanish French Open winner of 2016 rushed through her quarter-final duel with 6:2 and 6:1 against the overtaxed Maria Sharapova in the style of a future championess.

Kerner’s problem against Halep was the often lack of consistency and the lack of risk taking, too often the German was only the player who reacted to her opponent’s strategic plan, her blows. It also took revenge that the 30-year-old from Kiel did not win the first set quickly enough, after a 4-0 lead, and wasted a lot of energy unnecessarily. Kerber brought Halep up to 3:4, then the self-sacrificing Romanian even equalized to 5:5. The chase to catch up remained in vain, Kerber won the tiebreak quite confidently, but Halep remained completely unimpressed: “I’m always prepared for long matches against Angie. And I know I’m gonna get another chance.”

That quickly proved to be true, Halep managed a break in the first game of the second set. And from that moment on, the number one in women’s tennis was also the better, more powerful and more compelling player. Kerber missed another break chance in a 3-4 deficit in this round – and with it the possibility to shorten the game and play home in two sets.

But there was only one chance, Halep kept a cool head, equalized 1:1 after sets and did not let go of the command. Long before the match point, it seemed as if Kerber herself no longer fully believed in a surprise coup against the tournament favourite, the first semi-final in Paris. She fought doggedly, even got treated for blisters on her foot after all these metres.

But too often she made the bitter mistakes in the Big Points – the moments when a game can turn and turn. Or just stay on course. “Too often she has lacked precision. But sometimes the last step to the ball,” tennis legend Arantxa Sanchez said, “it was also a question of who has the physically greater resources. It was, apparently, Halep. And not Kerber.

Kerber will now draw a line under the sand court series, only at the French Open she could draw impressive traces into the red earth. She lost both singles in the Fed Cup match against the Czech Republic at the start of the seasonal slippery matches, but then had to give up at her home tournament in Stuttgart in the second round.

A respectable quarter-final entry followed in Rome, and now also the round of the last eight in Paris. A quite respectable balance, it thus remained within the self-imposed target. “I’m quite happy with the last few weeks,” Kerber said. Now it’s off to the tennis greens, first in Mallorca in a week and a half – later, in early July, the most prestigious class meeting of the year will take place in Wimbledon. With Kerber as the dangerous secret favourite of Grand Slam, from the depths of the room.