20:22
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 3: 0
Kerber completely misses a forehand shot, but shows what she can do with her left hand in the following rally and carpenters a forehand winner longline on the green background. 30 both.
20:21
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 3: 0
In view of the first three games, a strong return winner from Mladenovic comes as a surprise. Kerber immediately draws level at 15:15.
20:19
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 3: 0
And so there is the quick double break! After all, Mladenovic “only” made a double mistake in this service game, then at 3:40 p.m. after a decent stop by Kerber longline he let himself pass and also gave up the second service game shortly afterwards. The last faulty inside-out shot shows: The French has an enormous spread in her hits so far.
20:18
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 2: 0
Mladenovic has been quite out of character so far, sometimes missing the target by miles. So it’s quickly back to 15:30 in favor of Kerbers.
20:17
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 2: 0
And there the German has the upper hand and also scores the fourth and fifth point in a row. The forehand in particular has now become powerful and forces Mladenovic to hit the net. Early 2-0 lead after games.
20:16
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 1:0
But the favorite can successfully defend herself and brings good tennis to the lawn for the first time! After a mistake by the opponent, she first slams a forehand winner inside in on the field and chases down the game device in the following rally longline as a winning shot. Kerber saves himself in the debut.
20:14
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 1:0
It’s a weak start for both players. Kerber doesn’t serve well either, but at least gets the yellow felt ball over the net. After that, things don’t go well for the German, three quick unforced errors also put her 0:40 behind on her own service.
20:13
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 1:0
Is the challenger nervous? After she put a serve on the field and was able to at least make the 15:40 connection thanks to a weak return into the net from Kerber, she makes the third double fault and almost gives away the first break.
20:12
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 0:0
Mladenovic’s botched start! Four serves in a row land in the net, two double errors to 0:40 for Kerber. Three break chances.
20:11
Angelique Kerber – Kristina Mladenovic 0:0
Mladenovic serves first against the German favorite and puts a shot just past the baseline. 0:15 from the French perspective.
20:08
protagonists arrived
The two players are on Court No. 1 arrived and are currently warming up. It can start in a few minutes, the stadium is still not too full after the previous long match.
19:58
head to head
The two main players have played six matches to date – five of them on hard court, one on clay. The duel on sand was won by Mladenovic, who was strong on the red background. Kerber only lost one of the other five encounters, the only one in a Grand Slam tournament (US Open 2019). The native of Bremen will now want to prevent that. Who will win the first duel between the two on grass?
19:44
Struff not rewarded – free space
It was a sensationally strong performance by Jan-Lennard Struff. However, it wasn’t enough for the surprise success: Carlos Alcaraz just ended a gripping, great duel after 4:10 hours. This ended the long waiting period for Kerber and Mladenovic, the court is free for the match that follows.
19:39
Kristina Mladenovic
Today’s Kerber opponent Mladenovic is known above all as a strong doubles player, but in the best phase of her career in 2017 she was one of the top ten in the world with tenth place in the world rankings. However, her name is better known from the doubles competition: she has already won a Grand Slam tournament six times, primarily with her Hungarian partner Tímea Babos. As in 2016, the 29-year-old won the French Open this year, instead of Babos her teammate was Caroline Garcia. Mladenovic knows his way around on big stages, but in singles at Wimbledon it was never enough for more than round three.
19:18
Kerber’s greatest success
In an interview with RTL/ntv, Kerber recently emphasized how much she likes to revisit the place of her greatest career success, the 2018 Wimbledon victory: “Every time I return to Wimbledon, all these beautiful thoughts and memories come back.” And despite being 19th in the world rankings, the German had another declaration of war ready: “I’m trying to get the last percentage out to play my best tennis and in the end maybe travel to the tournament as the winner again.” Last year she had already shown that a lot is still possible and made it to the semi-finals.
19:01
Alcaraz extends the fifth sentence – Kerber has to wait
While we took a first look at Kerber’s Wimbledon starting position, Struff and Alcaraz measured each other in the tie-break of the fourth set – with the better end for the Spanish favorite. It is therefore clear that Kerber and Mladenovic still have to be patient before their duel begins.
18:58
Kerber is hot for Wimbledon
After Kerber started a surprisingly great performance in Wimbledon last year by winning the tournament in Bad Homburg, she was unable to defend this title at home this year. Against the French Alizé Cornet it was over in the quarter-finals, but after a short grass season so far, Kerber sees himself armed for the “Holy Lawn” of London: “I had three good matches in Bad Homburg. In the end it doesn’t matter how many matches you’ve played before, Grand Slams have their own rules.”
18:52
Kerber’s potential tournament path
The draw for the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament initially gave Angelique Kerber manageable tasks. In round one and two she is and would be clearly favoured. If they progress in round three, the most difficult opponent there could be Elise Mertens from Belgium. Only in the round of 16 could the first big task await with the Tunisian third seed Ons Jabeur. But first the focus on today’s duel!
18:47
Huge surprise from Struff?
When exactly it will start for Kerber, it is not yet possible to say what Jan-Lennard Struff deserves. The German, who was actually rather weak recently, is currently playing strongly against the big favorite Carlos Alcaraz and has a 2-1 lead in the fourth round. If he wins the set, he would sensationally move into round two and quickly clear the place for Kerber. If Alcaraz wins the set, he extends the match into the fifth set and the two women have to be patient a little longer. It is currently 5:5, you can also read the live ticker of this extremely exciting duel here.
18:42
Warm welcome
Good evening and a warm welcome to Angie Kerber’s opening match! The German number one is challenged by the outsider from France, Kristina Mladenovic. After the match of Kerber’s compatriot Jan-Lennard Struff it will be on court no. 1 go around the second round indent.