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Birthday girl Kerber survives another meltdown
Angelique Kerber celebrated her 29th birthday with a shaky 6-2 6-7(3) 6-2 win over Carina Witthoeft at the Australian Open but the world number one will have much to ponder in her title defence once the candles are blown out.
By
migrator
migrator
Melbourne
The top seed opened nervously in a three-set grind with unseeded Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko on Monday and again suffered a meltdown when well on top of 89th-ranked Witthoeft at a breezy Rod Laver Arena.Â
German Kerber squandered a 2-0 lead as she headed for victory in the second set, then shipped 10 successive points to lose the tiebreak and then her serve in the first game of the deciding set. But the plucky 21-year-old Witthoeft, who had swung hard at every ball to rattle the champion, suddenly fell away, allowing Kerber to rally and close out the 128-minute tussle.Â
As against Tsurenko, Kerber wrapped up the first set quickly but was knocked off her stride by the free-swinging Witthoeft, who began finding the lines after a wayward start. It may have been Kerber’s special day but she handed out all the presents after taking a 3-1 lead in the tiebreak. She double-faulted twice to allow Witthoeft to nose ahead 4-3 and sprayed a backhand wide to give up three set points.Â
Desperate and stranded midcourt, Kerber netted a backhand to lose the set and returned to her seat, only to be stunned once more in losing her serve to love. The Kerber who upset Serena Williams in a classic final on the same court last year was replaced by her old self before her breakout 2016 - the top 10 player who lacked the mental strength to trouble the best players at the majors. Luckily for the twice grand slam champion, her opponent’s belief wavered and her baseline rockets began firing long and wide.
Bouchard wins ugly and looks to the future
It was not always pretty, but Eugenie Bouchard took another step on the path she hopes will take her back to the top of the game with a 7-6(5) 6-2 victory over Peng Shuai to reach the third round. The Canadian crowd favourite had a minor wobble midway through the first set before securing a convincing victory over her Chinese opponent, clearing the way for a contest against Pauline Parmentier or Coco Vandeweghe. Bouchard’s run to the Melbourne Park semi-finals as a teenager in 2014 laid the groundwork for season where she hit the heights of the world top five.
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