Angelique Kerber stuns Petra Kvitova to reach semis – Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012
In a battle between two top left-handed players, 12th seeded Angelique Kerber toppled the Czech number one, Petra Kvitova, in a three-set thriller at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia 2012 on Friday. She nudged up a 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-1 victory against
the world number four to progress into the semi-finals at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Five event held in Rome, Italy.
Kerber, who became the German number one this week, showed tremendous tennis to outsmart the fourth seed in their second encounter. After stealing the show in two hours and 14 minutes, the Bremen native not only took revenge of her defeat at the Porsche
Open earlier this circuit but also levelled the head-to-head series by 1-1 against Kvitova.
"Petra played great tonight, but I was just trying to focus on myself and fight," Kerber said. "We played a few weeks ago in Stuttgart and she beat me but the conditions were different this time - this was outdoors, and a night match too."
Both stars played their best tennis in the opening set but the German edged past Kvitova after dominating the tie-breaker. Kerber drew the first blood and despite losing her serve in the third game, she broke again leaped to a 3-1 lead. Apart from going
3-5 down, the German recovered in the 10th game and eventually pulled out the opener with a 7-6(2) score line.
The 22-year-old on the other end went berserk and reeled off the opening five games before Kerber could hold on. Kvitova then held her serve once more and pocketed the equaliser with a breadstick.
Ranked 11th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Kerber re-gained her strength in the final set. She blasted powerful groundstrokes to wind up the first five games consecutively before the Czech could come on the score sheet. The German slid her serve
once again and sealed the decider with an assuring 6-1 success.
All in all, the German jolted down a lower first serve share of 61 per cent as opposed to her rival’s 73 per cent but magnificently availed 32 out of 53 points on it.
Next up for Kerber is the former world number one, Maria Sharapova from Russia.
"Maria is a great player and has been playing very well this year," Kerber said. "I'll go out there, try my best and just have fun. I have nothing to lose."
The second seeded Russian tumbled over the American veteran, Venus Williams, in straight sets in one hour and 41 minutes.
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