Angelique Kerber is in the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the third time since 2012 and can continue to dream of her third Grand Slam title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. The seeded Kieler defeated the Russian Daria Kasatkina (No. 14) 6:3, 7:5 in the round of the last eight and on Thursday Kerber will meet the former French Open winner Yelena Ostapenko (Latvia/No. 12). On Tuesday afternoon Julia Görges Kerber could follow into the semifinals.
By Ulrike Weinrich from Wimbledon
After 1:29 hours, Kerber transformed her seventh match point in front of almost 15,000 spectators, including tennis icon Billie Jean King, who was sitting in the Royal Box in blackberry sunglasses. Kerber had recently defeated Kasatkina at the preparation tournament in Eastbourne
Overnight there had been a severe drop in temperature on the island. Instead of up to 30 degrees Celsius on the days before, the thermometer showed only 19 degrees Celsius on Tuesday noon.
While Kerber is known to be more fond of the heat, she continued her highly concentrated performance from the previous day on the most famous of all Centre Courts. 24 hours earlier, the left-hander had entered the round of the last eight with a 6:3, 7:6 (7:5) against the Swiss player Belinda Bencic. This time again, a game with sometimes long and intense baseline duels developed on the holy lawn.
The woman from Kiel always tried to be the first to take the initiative after a scan. She did this mostly with the help of her dreaded angle balls. However, in their first game Kerber had to fend off a break point – and took the serve away from 14th-placed Kasatkina.
However, the 21-year-old Russian, known for her backhand, helped in her first Wimbledon quarter-final with a double mistake at the wrong time. Kerber carried the break safely to 4-2 before Kasatkina managed to break the serve of the two-time Grand Slam winner for the first time.
But with two double errors in the following game, Kasatkina paved the way for her to the important 5-3 lead, and shortly afterwards Kerber benefited from the Russian’s 13th Unforced Error, who had won the French Open title in the juniors in 2014, at her second set point after 32 minutes. “Angie” made only two unforced mistakes in the first run – it was the basis for a custom start.
Kerber then dictated the action and took a 3-1 lead. With her back to the wall, however, Kasatkina, who is accustomed to taking risks, increased the pressure – and at times made hardly any more mistakes. The German was put on the defensive, where she actually feels comfortable.
Kasatkina equalled to 5-5 after their fourth break, but Kerber regained their old lead and finally got their service back after two service losses in a row. Until then, however, the Fed Cup player had to fight because the Russian once again fiercely defended herself – and initially played “All or Nothing” successfully in the match balls. Kerber finally kept his nerve.
Kerber leaves nothing to chance in the days of Wimbledon. As usual, she and her Belgian coach Wim Fissette hit Court 14 from 10.30 a.m. to 11.00 a.m., which is located right outside in Aorangi Park, the area with the training pitches. “I have my rituals here, and I’m sticking to them,” said the left-hander, who by and large does not consider herself “superstitious.