Angelique Kerber blasts her way past Klara Zakopalova in the semis – AEGON International 2012
German number one, Angelique Kerber, had no trouble at all in disposing of the 36th ranked Czech opponent, Klara Zakopalova, in the semi-final round of the AEGON International on Friday. The world number eight spent
just 59 minute to wrap up her emphatic straight sets victory at 6-0, 6-3, to earn a title shot in the final of the event.
Being the last stop before the beginning of the Wimbledon Championships, the contest was played on the grass courts of the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club. Kerber was the hot favourite for winning the semi-final brawl but a much
better resistance was expected from Zakopalova in the contest. The unseeded Czech stunned her ninth seeded fellow compatriot, Petra Cetkovska, in the second round and then ousted the Russian youngster, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the quarter-final battle
to meet the fifth seed German. She was anticipated to give some tough time to the in-form world number eight but a brilliant display of sheer class and domination from Kerber left her stranded in the end.
24-year-old Kerber was absolutely devastating throughout the match and spared merely three games for her unseeded opponent in the entire contest to reach the title match. Her victory gave her a 3-1 lead in the all-time head-to-head
series against Zakopalova and an opportunity to claim her third championship title of the running season. It is the first grass-court final for Kerber but she is all geared up for overcoming the challenge in the title match.
"I came here a week ago and the plan was to have a lot of matches before Wimbledon, so it feels very good," delighted Kerber said in her post match reviews. "I can't get any more matches than this now, so I'll just focus on my
last match here and then on Wimbledon. It's my first time reaching a final on grass, and it's a big thing for me."
The hard-hitting German delivered 63 per cent of her first serve on target and clinched 24 out of 30 points on it. She broke the Czech’s serve five out of seven times, while suffering a lone break point conversion from the 30-year-old
veteran. Kerber played flawless tennis in the opening set and registered a bagel to get one up early. She has no trouble in doing away with the limited resistance posed by the Czech opponent in the following set and concluded her victory in a dominating fashion.
Kerber will face the surprise candidate from Austria, Tamira Paszek, in the title match.
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