Polona Hercog advances at Monterrey Open
Eighth seeded Slovenian, Polona Hercog, defeated German, Angelique Kerber, in straight sets at the Whirlpool Abierto Monterrey tournament. Hercog won by a score line of 6-3, 6-3
World ranked 50th, Hercog has so far won only 3 out of her last 10 matches in the season. Earlier this season, she lost in the first rounds at Brisbane, Acapulco and the Australian Open. She exited Bogota in the second round where she lost to
Croatian, Petra Martic. But being a seeded player, she seemed to be in good shape in this tournament.
The world number 65, Kerber, on the other hand, had won 4 out of her last 10 matches. She managed to reach the quarter-finals at Hobart where she was ousted by Bethanie Mattek-Sands. She suffered first round exits at Paris, Dubai, and from the Australian
Open.
Both players displayed an amazing game of tennis but the 20 year old, Slovenian, outshined Kerber completely and won the match in straight sets.
In the opening set, Kerber committed only a single double fault, saved five break points and also converted one opportunity to her advantage. But this wasn’t enough to hold the raging Slovenian back. Even though she committed 3 double faults, she still broke
the German’s serve three times and fired an ace to win the first set, 6-3.
She had a higher first serve percentage of 73 percent as compared to Kerber’s 65 percent. The Slovenian also registered an impressive 75 percent win on it. Her return points winning percentage of 50 percent was also much better as opposed to the German’s
36 percent.
The frustrated German re-focused her concentration in the second set and played comparatively better. She fired an ace, saved 2 out of 3 break points and had an acceptable first serve percentage of 58 percent as compared to Hercog’s 61 percent.
However, she was only able to win three games since she committed many unforced errors and five double faults. The higher ranked Slovenian on the other hand maintained her winning momentum from the first set to the second set and clinched it with the help
of a single break of serve. Hercog also earned an amazing 76 percent win on her first serve.
After winning this match against the Germans, Hercog took the lead in their head to head series by 3-2.
She will next be facing either Italian Romina Oprandi or Czech Barbora Zahlavovastrycova. And if she keeps her momentum and form, she can overpower these un-seeded players easily to advance further at this WTA Premier event.
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