Angelique Kerber has reached the second round of the 2018 Wimbledon tournament with little effort: Germany’s number one defeats Vera Zvonareva from Russia 7-5 and 6-3.
Kerber took the lead in the duel between two former Wimbledon finalists in both sets, but Zvonareva fought back again and again at least in round one. After 83 minutes, the double major winner prevailed with the third match point and left court number 3 after 7:5 and 6:3.
Kerber came to Wimbledon with the recommendation of a semi-final in Eastbourne, Zvonareva had to overcome three qualification hurdles. Zvonareva had reached her career highlight in 2010 with the participation in the final. After having finished her active career in the meantime, she returned to the tour last year, but has since played mainly at smaller tournaments. Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist currently ranks 132nd in the world rankings.
Kerber tried it again and again with stop balls, of which the Russian ran many – but could only look behind Kerber’s subsequent passing or praise balls. The German number one scored six aces, but Kerber also made five double mistakes.
In round two, they will now play Claire Liu from the USA, who won the junior women’s competition at Church Road last year and defeated Ana Knojuh from Croatia in three sets in round one.
Here the single tableau in Wimbledon