Dubai: Angelique Kerber was looking forward to an engrossing battle of two former world number ones when the German grounded out a 6-4, 6-2 win over Italian qualifier Sara Errani on Wednesday to set up a clash with Karolina Pliskova at the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open.
Seeded sixth in Dubai, Kerber reigned as the new world No. 1 for the first time over a period of 20 weeks at the end of January last year. She was eventually displaced by Serena Williams briefly for seven weeks, before Kerber retook her place at the top in the first week of April for five weeks.
Once again, Williams took possession only to see Kerber return for a third time as the world’s No. 1 player. However, her reign was cut short as Pliskova announced her arrival as the 23rd player in the Open Era to be at the top in mid-July 2017.
Pliskova, whose best in Dubai is a runner-up spot to Simona Halep in 2015, got the better of Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro to settle the battle between two former world number ones. “Against Pliskova, it’s always a tough match. I know how she’s playing and I know what to expect,” Kerber told media after her win in straight sets against Errani.
“I know that I have to play good tennis again. It will be completely different match than today and yeah, I’m looking forward to playing against her again,” she added.
Having made her professional debut in 2003, Kerber rose to prominence after reaching the semi-finals of the 2011 US Open even though she was ranked world No. 92. Her Grand Slam success finally came to fruition in 2016 when she clinched the Australian Open and then the US Open to sign off one of her most successful seasons. In between she also won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics while representing Germany.
However, that was followed by a meltdown in 2017 — an episode that can now well be forgotten by the 30-year-old from Bremen. She has made a strong start to the 2018 after she opened with an all-win record to lead Germany to the Hopman Cup final which they lost to Switzerland. She then went on to win the Sydney International — her first title since the US Open — and the reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open followed by the quarter-finals at the Qatar Open.
“I am winning now, because maybe I have forgotten 2017,” she joked.
“You know, I really tried to start a new season completely just trying to taking all the experience that I took from the last two years, especially from the last year where I learnt a lot. Now I think, as a player, I have much more experience in every aspect of the game: losing, winning, also on court and off the court. I think this also makes me feel a little bit stronger going to tournaments,” Kerber added.
