Although she maintained her place inside the top 10, the German did not quite reproduce the breakthrough season she had last year. As said, it's been a season if near-misses. She lost in the last 16th at the Australian Open (to Ekaterina Makarova), Roland Garros (to Svetlana Kuznetsova), and Flushing Meadows (to Carla Suarez Navarro), as well as in the second round at Wimbledon (to Kaia Kanepi), but she had great chances of advancing further in all these occasions. She also lost one WTA final, at Monterrey, where she was again outrun in dramatic fashion, by another Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The sudden awakening occurred at the beginning of the Asian Swing. In Tokyo, at the Premier Pan Pacific Open, Kerber rediscovered her inner strength to defeat a slew of top players to make the final. Her victories over Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki, respectively Agnieszka Radwanska, provided a huge boost of confidence, and although she fell to former Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, she remained upbeat about her performance. Another good week followed in Beijing. She again had an opportunity to go further, but she stopped in the quarterfinals following a tough loss to Aga Radwanska.
With two weeks to go till the final showdown in Istanbul, Maria Sharapova announced her withdrawal, so her seat was up from grabs. Angelique was the frontrunner in this race, but she needed a strong result in Linz to seal the deal. Although she was the No.1 seed, her week did not start very promising, as she was bagelled in the first set by Romanian Monica Niculescu. After shrugging off the shock, the German made serious adjustments, which made her unstoppable. She cruised through the draw, avenging the heart-breaking US Open loss to Suarez Navarro in an emphatic manner, beating the Spaniard 6-2,6-0. In the final, the German proved she has what it takes to win big matches, dismissing the stiff challenge of rejuvenated former world No.1, Ana Ivanovic. The win marked the perfect ending to a dream week for the German, a week in which she qualified for the Season-Ending Championships by claiming her first title of the year.
Angelique does not have an outstanding weapon, but she is the perfect example of a counterpuncher who can play extremely aggressive tennis. To me, she resembles Kim Clijsters. Plus, she is a lefty, which makes it trickier for opponents to beat her. She lacks a bit the mental strength to close out matches, but on a good day she can defeat anyone. It remains to be seen what she can do in Istanbul, but provided she gets an accessible group, I see her making the semis.
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| Angelique Kerber capped a dream week in Linz, beating former champion Ana Ivanovic to win her first title of the season. The result was enough for the German to book her seat at the WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul. |
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| Angelique also achieved a great result in Tokyo where she reached the final of the Premier event. Unfortunately for her, she was beaten 2-6,6-0,3-6 by Czech Petra Kvitova. |
photos (top-down): AP, Gepa, AP, GETTY IMAGES
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