Germany’s number one in women’s tennis fought a rousing fight in round one of Roland Garros. In the third round she was already 3:5 behind – only to triumph after all.
Angelique Kerber fell to her knees. Then, after the happy end of a real battle of nerves, the three-time Grand Slam winner roared out a loud “Come on” to the wild cheers of the audience and animated her fans to a La Ola wave.
Two days after winning her 14th Tour title in Strasbourg, the former world number one beat Magdalena Frech from Poland 2:6, 6:3, 7:5 in a real thriller despite a major false start in Paris. Kerber was completely exhausted, had two match balls against him and after 2:28 hours, after the last three bitter first-round bankruptcies, he was celebrating the leap into the second round of the French Open for the first time.
Kerber: “The mood here is awesome”
“I left my heart on the pitch today, I left everything I had on the pitch. I’m so glad I won the match. The atmosphere here is super awesome. It’s incredible,” said Kerber Eurosport. French wild card starter Elsa Jacquemot awaits in the next round.
At first, Kerber hardly managed anything. 13 unforced errors were clearly too many in the first set, her opponent sensed her chance and played boldly. But Kerber collected himself, played much more concentrated in the second round and got Frech going with his stops. In the deciding set, she came back from a 3-5 deficit. Both players delivered a real tennis drama. With the better ending for the three-time Grand Slam winner.
Previously, Andrea Petkovic was more convincing. The all-time favorite from Darmstadt, who reached the semi-finals in the French capital in 2014, made a strong showing in her 6-4, 6-2 opening win against local hero Oceane Dodin.