Angelique Kerber ran to a spot in the semifinals with ease at the US Open Tuesday. The last player left to go after the number one spot got the job done quite easily defeating Italy’s Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center.
The series between was dead even before the quarterfinal match with Kerber still leading the series in active matches. She had planned to take on the Italian at Nuremberg last season but an injury kept her out of action giving Vinci the second win over Kerber. Since their last match in 2013, the two have been actively in the top ten and both eyeing a push forward in the tournament.
Vinci wanted nothing more than to get back to the final after she managed to beat out Serena Williams to set up a one on one with eventual champion Flavia Pennetta. With her just two matches away from a return making a stance against the world number two would be huge for her once more.
The two had opening set jitters breaking one another yet recording so many unforced errors. It wasn’t until the third game where Kerber managed to hold service with Vinci following suit. A solid fight for control came in the fifth where the game lasted nearly eight minutes with seven breaks elapsing between the two. With the errors continuing to play a role, it became a fight for break point which Vinci scored in the end.
Holding some leverage on the German, she climbed back on the score to force deuce in the sixth looking to gain another. She got caught up in a rally that gained pace too much to the point of losing control on the ball and the game itself. The competition continued to see the players force games to deuce. Kerber had the ball in the seventh hoping that she could return to holding serve no matter the cost. Despite the adversity and effort, she put in, the world number two held on changing course of the pace.
She watched Vinci gain back the momentum in the eighth leveling the set again that made the ninth critical for Kerber to hold. Instead of using her success from her last serve, she fell apart committing four unforced errors that handed the Italian the easiest win of the day. It gave Vinci a 5-4 hold threatening to take a step in the right direction thereby holding Kerber back.
By some inner force inside the world number two, she didn’t let that happen on court. With all the talent she had, Kerber went on to tie the set at five and pushed it to a three game winning streak that gave her the set after 54 minutes. Vinci’s downfall in the 12th came at the worst time to give up four straight that ended with a double fault. It was the second one she caused on court by Vinci at a time where she had the upper hand before it all came tumbling down.
Things didn’t go any better for her as Kerber had found her groove and stayed in deep to start the second set. Having the control on both sides of the ball, the world number two reached a 3-0 rout increasing to a five game winning streak. When it was 4-0, things were clear for the German that her rage to victory was successful having allowed the Italian just four points.
It remained that way going into the fifth where Kerber remained the dominant taking the game swiftly on service with one left to get a spot in the semifinal. Vinci showed effort to rally up some points that ended her drought. She almost had the losing streak over gaining the advantage on deuce. It wasn’t meant to be as a rally of hers ended with the ball going long to end the match after 1 hour and 17 minutes
“I think it’s always difficult to play against Roberta,” Kerber said about her opponent to ESPN’s Pam Shriver. She’s a great player and she played so well last year here and came out here to play good tennis. I’m happy to win it in two sets and to reach here again means a lot to me.”
With a very good win for an early start, the German would spend the rest of the day to relax before getting prepared for a semifinal match Thursday when she’ll face the winner between Caroline Wozniacki and Anastasija Sevastova.
No comments:
Post a Comment