Angelique Kerber stamps her authority in Paris with a thunderous 1st round triumph – Tennis Special
World number 10, Angelique Kerber, eased past the 169th ranked Chinese qualifier, Shuai Zhang, in the opening round of the Roland Garros French Open. She ousted the qualifier in straight sets 6-3, 6-4; wasting little
time in moving on to the next round of the year’s second Grand Slam tournament.
Kerber issued the early warrant of threat by registering a first breakthrough in the second game of the match. She cruised away to a lead of 3-0 and went ahead with no holds barred at all. She hardly lost any point on her serve
making it very difficult for the Chinese superstar to hint any chance of a comeback.
However, she was forced to work hard in the return games; squandered few breakpoints but that didn’t matter as she was already leading the scores and comfortably bagged the opening set. Zhang was in no position at all to face the
left-handed in-form German who has been one of the most improved player of the season having risen from the world number 36 to break into the Top-10.
First three games of the second set witnessed breakpoints for both players but unfortunately for the Chinese qualifier, she was the one trailing again with two breaks to one. German number one eased to a lead of 3-1 after saving
another breakpoint but squandered the lead in the sixth game when her serve was broken to love.
Both players hung on to their serves in the following two games. However, the 23-years-old Chinese couldn’t handle pressure in the dying stages of the second set; lost the ninth game and gifted the critical lead to her opponent.
Kerber was forced to work hard on her final serve but she did well to hold on and march into the second round after saving a breakpoint.
Kerber will most probably contest her next match against the Swiss superstar, Romina Oprandi. However, Oprandi has to survive the all-round onslaught of the Belarusian tennis ace, Olga Govortsova, in the opening round to confirm
her draw with the German tennis ace. Govortsova will not hold on to anything because she has nothing to lose and Oprandi has been in dismal run of form that can always run against her favour. So, it will be a tight contest.
Angelique Kerber is one of my favourite superstars of the modern era. She has the advantage of being left-handed and comes up as a surprise package to most of the players who are used to contest against the pre-dominated right
handed tennis world. She takes advantage of her natural edge plus her ability to demolish any player on their favourite surface is the most threatening one. She ousted the likes of the defending champion, Caroline Wozniacki, in the final of the Copenhagen
(Dane’s home soil) having started the tournament as the underdog. So, she is pretty much capable of pulling up major upsets in the advanced stages of the tournament and might replace the Chinese number one, Li Na, as the French Open champion.
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