tennis
Kerber after victory: “Gives me self-confidence”
For Kerber, it was the first time since returning from her baby break that she was able to win two games in a row at a tournament. photo
© Maximilian Haupt/dpa
One win from seven games, that was Angelique Kerber’s record before the start in Indian Wells. There, a year after the birth of her daughter, she achieved two wins in two games.
After reaching the third round of Indian Wells and beating Jelena Ostapenko, Angelique Kerber emphasized the great importance of success. “Of course it gives me self-confidence to have won against a top 10 player,” said the former number one in the tennis world rankings after the 5:7, 6:3, 6:3.
After many ups and downs in the duel, she managed to win the second match in a row. It helps her a lot “to know that I can be strong in important moments.”
Ostapenko was number ten at the tournament and also occupies this position in the world rankings. Kerber is number 607 there after her baby break. She used her fourth match point to win against Ostapenko after 2:13 hours. In the third round she will face number 17 seed Veronika Kudermetowa from Russia. Kerber is the only remaining German in the WTA tournament. Tatjana Maria lost to Jasmine Paolini from Italy in the second round 3:6, 3:6.
Premiere after baby break
For Kerber, it was the first time since returning from her baby break that she was able to win two games in a row at a tournament. In the first round she prevailed against Croatian Petra Martic. The hard court tournament in Indian Wells is endowed with 9.26 million US dollars (around 8.5 million euros). “Jelena is a strong opponent, she played so well this year. I knew that I had to play very well,” said Kerber.
Kerber has been a mother for a year. She has been active again on the WTA tour since January. She has now won three of the nine games since her comeback.