Angelique Kerber overcomes Yaroslava Shvedova in the quarter-finals – Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2013
Home favourite, Angelique Kerber, had limited trouble in disposing of the Kazakh tennis ace, Yaroslava Shvedova, in the quarter-final battle of Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Friday. The world number six took merely 77 minutes to
take the better of the 37th ranked opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(2).
The German number one has been the real heartthrob of the local crowd throughout the tournament. She was defeated by Shvedova three years ago in Montreal, Canada, but it was the payback time for the crafty left-hander to draw the
series level at 1-1. Kerber started off the contest in her usual hard-hitting manner and devastated the defences of her opponent to seal the opener. Shvedova posed some serious resistance in the following set but couldn’t hold her nerve in the dire moments
of the match to fall out of it.
"We both played well," Kerber said. "I was fully concentrated right from the first point and tried to make her move around and not let her get into the match - luckily enough my tactics worked well today. It was extremely important
for me to play as well as possible at my home tournament. Reaching the semifinals is a big achievement for me. But I'm not going to put myself under any pressure. I'm naturally going to have the crowd behind me - they've been supporting me so fantastically
all week."
Kerber hasn’t won a single tournament this season and it seems the perfect time to bring her title drought to an end in Stuttgart. The home ground advantage has been paying extremely well for her in the tournament so far and she
might lift up gold by the end of this clay-court event. Kerber will face the belligerent world number two, Maria Sharapova, in the semi-final round to earn a shot at the championship title. The top seeded Russian had a stiff battle with the former world number
one, Ana Ivanovic, in the quarter-final round and managed to get the better of her in three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, to book a date with Kerber in the round of four.
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