Angelique Kerber "peek-a-boos" seeded Flavia Pennetta in quarterfinal – US Open 2011
After two full rain packed days, the US Open 2011 resumed Thursday morning. Entering her first quarter final was the German surprise, Angelique Kerber against the 26th seeded Flavia Pennetta. As the two battled it out
of hard court 17 of the US Open 2011, the un-seeded Kerber flabbergasted the Italian brass (Pennetta) with 6-4 4-6 6-3, in one of the more surprising quarterfinal match-ups this year.
Subsequently after winning the toss to open the first round was Pennetta, who is a three time quarter finalist here took the lead in the first three games by breaking her opponent in the second game. Kerber who has never came so
far in a Grand Slam event, was looking to climb a few places in her ranking. Kerber started winning on her serve a little late into the set. She then broke her opponent in the fifth and seventh game to take the lead at 5-3 in the eighth game. In the tenth
game Kerber then went on to holding her serve by smashing an ace.
With some solid crosscourt backhands and a swing of forehand winners in every corner she beat the number 26 seeded Pennetta with a 6-4 victory in the opening set.
After taking a beating in the first set, Pennetta was not going to let Kerber win the second set that easily and put up a good fight to prevent the German from powering her.
Opening the second round was again Pennetta, as the two won on their respective serves in the first three games, the first to break in the fourth was Pennetta with a lead of 3-1. However, Kerber was not to be left behind and broke
back. After that the players broke each other back-to-back two times each and by the ninth game Kerber was a set down. In the tenth game Pennetta broke Kerber to take a 6-4 victory.
By the end of the second set the players had bagged a set apiece and in the third set as Pennetta served for the final set, she slipped and lost the set with only seven fewer points than Kerber’s.
Pennetta took the lead in the first two games by breaking first but Kerber jumped right back in by the third game and in the fourth game broke the Italian to equalize the score at 2-2. The players broke each other back-to-back
in the fifth and sixth game at which point the score was again levelled at 3-3. Kerber won the set as she then broke Pennetta once in the seventh game and the last time in the ninth game to serve the set at 6-3.
After the match Kerber said, "It is a dream that I will play in the semi-finals. I mean, the quarterfinals, for me, was the highlight of my career already. It's unbelievable".
Sabine Lisicki became the first German woman to reach the semi finals of a Slam since Steffi Graf; Kerber is the third German to achieve this feat now. She will now face the big hitting Australian, Samantha Stosur in the semi-final
tomorrow.
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