Tennis News

MONTRÉAL, Canada – No.2 seed Angelique Kerber’s Rogers Cup challenge continued to gain momentum after a dominant quarterfinal victory over Daria Kasatkina.

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In an intergenerational battle it was Kerber’s experience that held sway, sweeping aside her teenage opponent, 6-2, 6-2 in exactly an hour.

Kerber arrived Canada with fitness concerns – an elbow injury forced her to pull out of last week’s Ericsson Open – and has used the rounds to play herself into form and fitness. Against Kasatkina, she got off to an inauspicious start, erring on a couple of forehands to drop serve in the opening game.

She did not trail for long, though, the young Russian ballooning a wild forehand long to immediately hand back the initiative.

The swirling wind and her opponent’s precise returning intensified Kasatkina’s service struggles. Kerber meanwhile was into her groove, rattling off the final three games of the first set before forging ahead in the second.

When the World No.33 thumped away a frustrated drive volley to finally hold serve at 4-1 it elicited sympathetic applause from the crowd. Unfortunately for the young Russian, there was little compassion from down the other end, Kerber taking the final two games to quash any hope of a comeback.

“She played a great tournament and she’s really dangerous,” Kerber said. “I think I played really well today and it’s really nice to be in the semis for the first time in Montréal. I was trying to focus on my game because it was the first time I met her and it worked!”

Next up is No.5 seed Simona Halep in a rematch of the Wimbledon quarterfinals. “It’s going to be tough. We’ve played a lot of good matches in the past. I’m sure the crowd will support both of us so I’m really looking forward to playing her tomorrow.”

Selfie d'après-match de notre 2e demi-finaliste @AngeliqueKerber avec les Petits As Banque Nationale. #CoupeRogers pic.twitter.com/HoFGrKErxt

— Coupe Rogers (@CoupeRogers) 29 July 2016

After Thursday’s look back at tennis’ historic return to the Olympics at Seoul in 1988, wtatennis.com’s next stop off on its trip down memory lane is Barcelona…

Barcelona, Spain, 1992
Tennis de la Vall d’Hebron
Red Clay

Now established at the Games once more, Barcelona saw the singles draw expanded to 64 and an even stronger line-up in attendance; in addition to defending champion Steffi Graf, six other members of the Top 10 were present, including home hopes Conchita Martínez and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario and an American teenager going by the name of Jennifer Capriati.

Staged on the red clay of the Tennis de la Vall d’Hebron to the north of the city, the early stages were devoid of any real surprises, with all four top seeds all making it through to the semifinals.

Here, though, was when the tournament really sparked into life.

Faced with the cauldron of noise that was the Olympic Tennis Stadium, a 16-year-old Capriati had every right to be overawed when she stepped on court to face Barcelona’s favorite daughter, Sánchez-Vicario.

However, the American had not read the script.

The unashamedly partisan crowd, which included King Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain, were stunned as Capriati put on a regal display of clay court tennis to triumph, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Meeting Capriati for the gold medal was Graf. Once again the odds were stacked against the teenager, and once again she beat the house.

Going into the final, Graf had never lost to Capriati, her cool temperament trumping youthful promise on all four of their previous meetings. Yet where the teenager had collapsed under the pressure in the past, in Barcelona she battled tigerishly.

Capriati had nine break points at 2-2 and when she blew them and lost the first set 6-3 she could have wilted in the debilitating heat of the bullring-like Centre Court. Instead she began to hit the ball harder and closer to the lines.

Confronted by this barrage of winners, it was Graf who cracked; she lost her serve in the eighth game of the second set and again at the same stage in the third after Capriati bludgeoned yet another forehand drive down the line.

The American had only to hold her serve to become champion and she did so to 15 to claim the fourth and most important title of her fledgling career.

“It was so emotional,” Capriati said of her feelings as she received her medal. “I had the chills the whole time. I just can’t believe it. All week I watched the other athletes up there and I was with them and I thought, ‘Wow, that would be so cool.'”

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Olympic Memories: Seoul