Kerber wins Linz and qualifies for Istanbul

Angelique Kerber defeated the former world n°1 Ana Ivanovic in just two sets to conquer her first title of the year.

Her run to the title has been impressive; after the first set lost to Monica Niculescu in her opening match, ‘Angie’ didn't drop a single set all the way through to the title.

 

©Jimmie48

The world n°9 showed great attitude throughout the week, ignoring the major media attention gathered by her last-minute entry, to the detriment of Austrian WC Lisa-Maria Moser (for more on this story click here).

In addition to that, there was much pressure on her shoulders, since any result better than a Quarter Final would have meant the mathematical assurance to be qualified for the year-ending masters in Istanbul.

As a result, her QF match against local WC Patricia Mayr-Achleitner was tougher than the score line would suggest. Furthermore, the Austrian was playing some brilliant tennis heading to the match and had her chances in the first set, but Kerber reacted well and finished the match in total control.

The semi-final was a complete dominance by the German, who gave only two games to the world number 18, Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro.

This result and the great show of form and consistency in the past weeks set Kerber as the favourite in the final as well, despite trailing 3-1 in the head to head with Ivanovic.

The final resulted in a rollercoaster. Kerber started with the right mindset, taking the initiative whenever possible and exploiting her terrific defence to neutralise Ivanovic’s initial shots, especially off her forehand.

Suddenly the Serb’s shot increased in speed and accuracy, so in a blink of an eye, she won three games in a row to tie at 4-all.

It was then another big reaction from the German who broke Ivanovic for the third time of the set and went on serving the set out 6-4.

The second set witnessed a bit of everything, with the Serb starting with a ten-point-in-a-row streak, before surrendering to the massive comeback of Kerber, which led to a 5-4 40-0 lead on her serve. Swiftly, Ivanovic noticed the more passive attitude of her opponent and took advantage of it, saved all the match points, and broke back.

On 6-5 for the Serb, Kerber suffered a bad call that helped Ivanovic gain two set points, but instead of arguing, the German decided to fix the situation with a massive serve and a huge forehand down-the-line winner, to clear the set points and go to the tiebreak.

Once again Ana Ivanovic started strongly and went up 6-4, but similarly to the previous game, Kerber could find her best focus on the important points, while the Serb melted fast once those two more set points were gone. The fourth match point, the first in the tiebreak, was the final one, gifted by the Serb with a backhand error, which cost her the match and gave to Kerber the first title of year.

Originally posted on the sports gazette

Moser controversial withdrawal gives Kerber new chances for Master

Austrian Wild Card Lisa-Maria Moser withdrew today from Linz main draw, leaving space for a last minute entry of German Angelique Kerber, world n°9.

Nothing strange, one might think, such changes happen very often, especially at the end of the season. But this time the situation is very different and this last minute change looks far more complicated and not as clear as it should be.
The young Austrian had her breakthrough earlier this summer, when in another WTA International in Bad Gastein reached the Quarter Finals by defeating en route world number 30 and top seed German Mona Barthel. Ever since her ranking kept rising, but as the cut off for Linz was out, it still wasn't enough to make it to the Qualifying draw.
Once Petra Kvitova withdrew from the entry list, because of her deep run in Beijing, the Austrian federation gave a WC to Moser, who moved to Linz and no longer than yesterday was drawn to face Swiss Stephanie Voegele in the first round.

Overnight something happened though, it's not very clear when exactly, but the team of German Angelique Kerber requested a WC for the tournament, as the withdrawal of Kvitova left a spot for another top 10 in the draw -we shall remind that International events are allowed to have only one top tenner. This WC appeared as very needed for Kerber, who needs to score as many points possible in the next weeks, as she's fighting with Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki for a spot in the year ending Master, soon happening in Istanbul.
Apparently the request of WC for the German came too late as the draw was already out, but then, unexpectedly, this morning Lisa-Maria handed in her request of withdrawal from the singles maindraw for "personal reasons" and immediately afterwards she appeared on the entry list for doubles partnering with another Austrian WC, Nicole Rottmann. At this point it won't surprise anyone to find out that her WC went straight to the German and all the seeding of the draw changed.

Another interesting detail about this unusual situation is added by the fact that rules allow the players who finished the previous year within the top 10 to play only two international events and Kerber this year played Monterrey and Washington already.
A quibble though gave Kerber another shot to an additional international event, because Washington was played during the same week of Carlsbad, a premier tournament that Kerber couldn't play because it had reached the limit of top 10 players allowed there. This situation, according to the rules of WTA, allows the "damaged" player to enter an additional international event and so Kerber had her right to get it.

Nonetheless, it still seems questionable that a player -like Moser this time- can be "suggested" to withdraw and let another player compete on her place simply because of a bigger fame and better ranking.

Originally posted on the new project I am working on, the Sports Gazette

WTA goes fast from worst to best in Istanbul

Serena survives a bad day

In such tight and high-level competitions like the Year Ending Championships, generally one isn't allowed to have any kind of bad day, not even black-outs during matches as the quality of the opponents and the format of the round robin, can kick you out shorter than it seems.
But this time, it wasn't like that, or better, in tennis it's impossible for both player to lose, so one between Serena Williams and Li Na had to. Honestly the display of tennis in this match was probably one of the poorest ever in the story of this competition, with both players playing very far, not just from their best, but from an acceptable level for a top 10 player.
A scary number of shots landed out of the courts as if hitting inside was too main stream and the two challenged each other over who could miss more or in a worse fashion. No surprises then if the score was tight, but in such a terrible day for both of them, Serena at least could find a lifeline on her serve and that was the sole reason why she eventually won it 7-6 6-3.

Azarenka edges past Kerber in the best match of the year

World number one had to start her campaign here in Istanbul having already the duty to show all her skills in order to pass through the outstanding game of Angelique Kerber. Azarenka got inside the match with the knowledge that she was just a win away from finishing the year as world number 1, but she didn't let this put a bigger pressure on her shoulder and soon realised she had to fast find a good feeling with the court as "Angie" wouldn't give her an easy way to that accomplishment.

Kerber showed indeed a very brave attitude and really put a great effort to make her game work, she started to run over every shot from Azarenka before turning the defence into offence whenever she had the chance, producing incredible winners out of both wings and every angles.
On the other side of the net though, Vika wasn't keen on giving up and kept hitting the ball clean and strong and the two battled over every point as if it was the last one of a final producing such an amazing tennis that couldn't but lead to a tie break. There Vika started with a terrific rush that made her flow on a 6-2 lead, but Kerber didn't let this scare her and pushed on the throttle and with a couple of outstanding shots could even the score and the two then fought up to 11-11 when Angelique took her chances and closed the set.
The second set kept going with the extremly high intensity of the first, both players showed all their skills and heart, with grunts and screams that would but underline all the effort they were bringing in and the packed stadium can't but cheer for both of them.
On 5-4 Vika suffered another acceleration by the German who went 15-40 up on the world number one's serve, but at this very moment Azarenka would answer with a terrific raise of her game, that made her save those two Match Points and push the second set to the tie break.
The moment seemed to have switched to the Belarussian's side after the match points she saved and fast she took a lead of 6 points to 1, Kerber could save one set point, but didn't menage to re-make the first set's comeback and was forced to give the tiebreak to the world number 1.
In the thrid things seemed to finally go smooth for Azarenka as she early broke Angelique's serve, but after a little it was clear that the German wouldn't ever give up without fighting and so she came back levelling the score once again.

On 4-3 though, Azarenka could push her game a little over once again and broke Kerber in a very thrilling game in which the German cancelled the first chances of break by Vika with some brilliant winners, but in the end it was the Belarussian taking the game and going to serve for the match.
Once again Kerber took all the pride and energies left in her body and with a terrific effort broke back before Azarenka had any chance to close. Sadly for her, that burst seemed to have dried her out as in the very next game, Vika went up 15-40 and unlike what happened to Angie in the second, she could secure herself the win for 6-7 (11) 7-6 (2) 6-4 in over 3 hours of some of the best tennis of the season, if not of the past few years.