[2] Angelique Kerber (GER) vs. [32] Daria Kasatkina (RUS)
Thirty spots separate them in ranking and ten years in age; however, neither fact has stopped Kasatkina from feeling very confident when playing against Kerber. Perhaps it’s youthful enthusiasm or perhaps it’s her style of play that gives the German fits. It has not helped that rain has made life difficult for all the players and many knew that they would have to play two matches today to get back on schedule and the idea may have been less than appealing to some players or at least a mental distraction.
Kasatkina won the first set and all the momentum should have been on her side. However, that was not the case for two reasons: Kerber is a fighter and no matter the score, she will fight and that she did; second the prospect of beating the number two ranked player in the world and the number one seed probably began to play on the young Russian’s mind and she got nervous, so much so she did not win a game in the second set.
The match came down to the third set and momentum, mental fortitude and experience should have been on Kerber’s side; yet, it was the young Russian who showed her mental grit when she shrugged off the disappointment of losing the second set and served out the match. She outplayed the German to win the game and the match 6-4, 0-6, 6-4. Kerber has not found her form yet in 2017 and with each loss she has suffered you can see she is a little fragile mentally. Playing too much tennis has caught up to Kerber and with fatigue she lacks mental sharpness which is resulting in her losing where previously she would have won.
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Bing search
WOW!!