Kerber's march to the top continues in Cincinnati
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[August 19, 2016]
(Reuters) - Angelique Kerber
moved a step closer to turning a dream goal into reality with a
hard-fought win over Barbora Strycova to reach the quarter-finals of
the Western & Southern Open in a hot and humid Cincinnati on
Thursday.
The Australian Open champion's 7-6(5) 6-4 victory over the Czech put
the German world number two just three wins away from leapfrogging
Serena Williams, absent from this event, at the top of the WTA
rankings for a first time.
"It's the goal one day to be number one, but if it happens and when
it happens, whatever," the 28-year-old told ESPN, adding that
everyone was reminding her how close she was to topping the rankings
as she tried to block out the thought.
"I would not be putting this pressure on myself here. I'm just
trying to play my best tennis."
Kerber, enjoying her best season, including a Wimbledon final
appearance and silver medal in the women's singles at the Rio
Olympics, claims here improved serve and on-court attitude have been
key to her rise.
"Mentally, I'm more quiet," she said. "I think I can put the emotion
right now in the right place and that helps me to play really good.
"I've had a lot of ups and downs in my career, but I'm having the
best year of my career and it's still not over," the left-hander
said. "It's amazing what's happened in the last few months... it's
just incredible!"
Kerber was her usual tireless self against Strycova, scurrying to
extend rallies and wearing down her rival.
In the opening set tie-break, she drew errors from her Czech
opponent and then closed it out with a precise backhand pass.
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Angelique Kerber (GER) reacts to defeating Barbora Strycova (CZE) on
day six during the Western and Southern tennis tournament at Linder
Family Tennis Center. Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Strycova continued to hold her own in the second set but Kerber won
the key points, breaking in the ninth game before confidently
serving out.
Next up for Kerber is Spain's Carla Suárez Navarro, who beat Roberta
Vinci of Italy 6-1 7-5.
Third-seeded Simona Halep notched her 12th win in a row with a 6-1
6-2 thrashing of Australian qualifier Daria Gavrilova, beating the
heat by finishing in 53 minutes.
"Yes, it's very hot here," the Romanian said. "After the first set
the sun hit me very strong so I didn't have too much energy. I'm
really happy that I could finish."
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by John O'Brien)
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