Exclamation point from Angelique Kerber! The former number one in the tennis world caused a surprise in the eighth match after her one and a half year break due to the birth of her first child and celebrated her first comeback victory in a singles tournament.
At the prominent WTA tournament in Indian Wells, the 36-year-old won her opening game against top 60 player Petra Martic (number 58 in the world rankings) from Croatia, three years her junior, 6:3, 6:4.
“It’s great, it feels so good to be here again and play in front of you and give everything I have,” said Kerber after her game on Center Court. “I tried to move well and hitting the ball into the field. It’s not that easy without a lot of match practice, I try to stay here as long as possible and get as many matches as possible.”
After her maternity break, Kerber had previously narrowly lost in the first round of the Australian Open against the American Danielle Collins and in Linz against the Italian Lucia Bronzetti.
Next match against an opponent from the top 10
Kerber previously made her comeback at the United Cup, which was founded in 2023. The Germans were even able to win the team competition, although Kerber only managed one win in five games. An impressive increase now followed.
Kerber was not shocked by setbacks. After the current 607th in the world rankings was able to take Martic’s serve early in the first set, she immediately caught the rebreak, but remained calm and took the service from Martic again when the score was 3:2. The second set was similar. Ultimately, Kerber was able to use her second match point after around 90 minutes.
The three-time Grand Slam winner’s next opponent in the round of 64 at the $9.2 million tournament is the Latvian world number ten Jelena Ostapenko.
In Indian Wells in 2019, Kerber’s best result to date was the final, which she lost to Canadian Bianca Andreescu.
Meanwhile, there was also good news to report from Tatjana Maria. The 36-year-old also reached the next round with a 7:6 and 6:2 against the Dutch Arantxa Rus.
2024-03-06 21:04:00
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