Angelique Kerber defeats Anna Tatishvili to clear round one – Brisbane International 2013
German number one, Angelique Kerber, survived a scare against the 51st ranked Georgian, Anna Tatishvili, at the hard courts of Brisbane on Monday. She secured a gruelling three-set victory to open her new season's account.
An hour and 55 minutes encounter witnessed the final score line of 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in favour of the left-handed German.
The 24-year-old Kerber clinched a breakpoint in the first game but not before the crowd witnessed seven deuces at the start. She carried the momentum ahead and consolidated her position with another breakthrough in the third game.
A serve hold made it 4-0 in her favour.
Tatishvili was still eyeing to break the duck in the match. She served for the third game in the set but failed to register a successful ending, gifting a stupendous lead of 5-0 to her rival. However, she managed to escape an embarrassing
bagel by breaking her opponent’s serve in the following game. She was close on prolonging the set further by capturing another breakthrough but couldn’t convert the allotted breakpoints in her favour.
The second set witnessed an exchange of breakpoints between the two players. The 22-year-old Georgian went down a trail after failing to hold serve in the fifth game. However, she powered her way back with a couple of breakpoints
that ended the set in her favour and thumped her foe on the back foot.
Kerber started the final set in a commanding fashion. She placed the ball at her will and captured two quick breakpoints at the beginning that allotted her a huge advantage of 4-0. The momentum of her serves didn’t break in the
latter half of the deciding battle as well. She continued to fire in serves at a cracking pace and sprayed the ball to both corners of the court without any difficulty.
Tatishvili couldn’t handle the onslaught of the fifth ranked German and lost the encounter at the Part Rafter Arena. Kerber will face the winner of the contest between the wildcard entrant Olivia Rogowska of Australia and the Portuguese
qualifier, Monica Puig. She is expected to reach the quarter-final stage without much fuss.
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