Kerber Battles Through In Birmingham

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BIRMINGHAM, England – Defending champion Angelique Kerber battled back to defeat Daria Gavrilova and book a belated place in the quarterfinals of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.

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The match was one of the many to fall victim to Thursday’s biblical thunderstorms, Gavrilova leading 6-5 when the heavens opened. Kerber made a disastrous start to the restart, losing her serve and with it the set. However, as the match wore on the German began to find her rhythm and in the end ran out a comfortable 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 winner.

“It’s good to turn around the match after the rain delay, but it’s always tough to play against her so I’m really happy I played my game from the first point and found my rhythm again and won the match after losing the first set,” Kerber said.

“It was a new day, a new match, trying to just play aggressive tennis and get used to the grass. It was a good preparation for Wimbledon.”

Kerber did not take long to get over the disappointment of losing the opening set, outmaneuvering her young opponent to manufacture a couple of break points in the opening game of the second. Only one was required, and with the German now in her groove Gavrilova never looked like wresting back the initiative.

While Kerber’s unforced error count was as miserly as ever – she committed 21 in the match – Gavrilova struggled in vain for consistency. There was no masking the Australian’s frustration as she dropped the second then slipped 5-1 behind in the decider, Kerber closing out the contest in style, crouching down to uncork her 27th winner of the match. 

It will be a busy day for Kerber, who will return later to take on Carla Suárez Navarro in the last eight. Suárez Navarro booked her place with a rollercoaster win over Andrea Petkovic, frittering away a 5-2 final set lead before recomposing herself to complete a 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) victory.

There was disappointment for the home nation, as Heather Watson and Johanna Konta both slipped to defeat. British No.1 Konta made a bright start, breaking in the opening game but was up against it from then on as an impressive Yanina Wickmayer eased to a 6-3, 6-3 win. Watson lost to former finalist Barbora Strycova, 7-5, 6-4. 

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