Australian Open: Confidence is growing at Kerber and Zverev
Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber also won their second matches at the Australian Open 2020 without losing a set. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement - with both.
by SID
last edit: Jan 23, 2020, 01:33 pm
Alexander Zverev yelled a relieved "Yeah!" into the Rod Laver Arena, a good hour earlier Angelique Kerber had taken a deep breath in the Margaret Court Arena next door. With good reason: The two best German tennis players are in the third round at the Australian Open, even if they did not win a beauty award on their way there this time. However: Your results are correct - Zverev and Kerber, along with Julia Görges as the only one of the eleven Germans still in the tournament, remain without losing the set.
Zverev also wanted Kerber to see an increase in himself, in fact the world ranked seventh played very effectively and concentrated in his 7: 6 (7: 5), 6: 4, 7: 5 against Belarusian Igor Gerassimow. Only at the end of the match did he struggle, lost his serve at 5: 4, awarded the first match ball at 6: 4, but used his second a little later. "I haven't lost a set yet, I hope it stays that way," said Zverev with satisfaction.
Becker praises Zverev
"He makes a solid impression," said Boris Becker on the Eurosport microphone, and this was also true for the serve: nine aces, no double faults and 86 percent of the points won after a successful first service - remarkable values. For the last time without a double fault, Zverev stayed on September 30, 2019 in Beijing in the match against Sam Querrey (USA). "It is a pleasant feeling that I can still do that," said Zverev of the clean serve. "On these stones," said Becker, "he can build."
He can and must. "It's getting better, that's nice to know, but I will have to improve in the next match too," says the 22-year-old from Hamburg, because: "The opponents are not getting any easier." The next opponent is the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco - against the 51st in the world rankings, Zverev has a balanced record (2: 2). Camila Giorgi (Italy) is waiting for Kerber, an extremely stubborn opponent who likes to take full risks. In the first round, this was felt by Antonia Lottner from Düsseldorf.
Kerber can improve
Kerber struggled against the Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon than the 6: 3, 6: 2 would suggest. The match was not particularly high, there were six breaks in the first set alone. Of course, Kerber made significantly fewer mistakes than the 139th in the world rankings. Then she emphasized: "Between the first and the second match, I improved a little." She tried to "play the game aggressively and take it into her own hands."
Kerber, however, still has problems with her left thigh, which she injured before the Australian Open at the Adelaide tournament. "It always stings a little bit," she reported. The pain was basically gone, "but there is a bit of uncertainty". It is therefore "still a bit difficult to assess where I am exactly," she conceded, but "it is going in the right direction". After all.
By contrast, Laura Siegemund (Metzingen) and Peter Gojowczyk (Munich) missed the third round on the fourth day of the tournament. Siegemund was defeated by the world number two Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic), Gojowczyk by Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain), who was number 27.
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