Angelique Kerber kept things in stride to start the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Tuesday. The top seed and world number two got the straight sets win over Mona Bartha
winning 6-4, 6-3 on Centre Court at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.
It’s been four years since the German stars have faced off against one another making it very important for Kerber. She continues to reel from losing the number one rank at the Australian Open failing to defend her title. With that and a first-round loss last week in Doha, the world number two needed to bring her best together as the season got deeper into things. Bartha and Kerber each have two wins against one another with this one determining much in not only their personal history in match play but whether the target would remain on the number one seed.
Barthel made that clear and concise to start the first set answering Kerber in every game to remain level with her after four decisions. Kerber continued to set the bar watching her German counterpart also match well with her on skills. Wanting nothing more than to dictate the set alone, the former number one ran off with a break in the seventh before capturing a service hold that gave her room to charge ahead.
On the edge of going down a set, Barthel fought hard to get things back in control on serve and stay in it with Kerber. She got the victory in the ninth making it a key point for Kerber to play well on the serve. She had to add a little more effort in her quest for the set victory as Barthel battled to deuce only to slip up on the break handing Kerber the much-needed leverage after 42 minutes. It wasn’t a good opening set for either players as they combined for eight double faults with Kerber recording three of them. The edge for the top seed of the tournament came with her 77 percent success on the first serve that helped carry her struggles on the second serve.
She had to improve going into the second where Barthel performed well to get the opening victory. The 26-year-old nearly picked up a break on Kerber but watched as she rallied back to force deuce and hold serve. Barthel brushed off the attempt and went right to work on serve in the third continuing the pace. Kerber turned things around and gained the lead after five that had Barthel’s serve meaning more to her than ever in hopes of leveling with Kerber going forward. She found another victory on serve but as the set got deep, Kerber made it a mission to break ahead and keep Barthel in her rear view mirror.
She got to 5-3 with the 26 year old playing in the ninth to stay alive in the match. She gave Kerber three points in a row before saving herself for a time. The number one seed still had two match points left and got Barthel on a long rally that ended the 15 shot battle that gave Kerber the victory to start her tournament run after 1 hour and 18 minutes. Kerber’s overall performance in the second set matched her run in the first with her service carrying the weight to counterbalance her troubles on the second serve. She’ll want to pick up the pace going into the third round where she’ll pace 2016 Olympic champion Monica Puig on Wednesday.
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