Indian Wells (AP) – Angelique Kerber was eliminated in the round of 16 at the Tennis Masters in Indian Wells. The former world number one lost to the Pole Iga Swiatek 6: 4, 2: 6, 3: 6.
Kerber was the last German at the WTA tournament in the USA. Even in the ATP tournament that is taking place at the same time, there are no longer any German players in the singles. Alexander Zverev is only in competition with Kazakh Andrej Golubew as a partner in doubles.
In the decisive set, Kerber managed the first break to make it 3: 2, but she immediately conceded the re-break and a little later was 3: 5 behind after another lost service game. Swiatek, 14 years her junior, used her first match point to win. The 34-year-old trained with the number three seeded Pole last week at the facility in the Californian desert.
The Masters in the Californian desert is one of the most important tournaments on the WTA tour. The hard court event is worth $8,584,055. Kerber was in the final in 2019 and lost in the quarterfinals last year to the later winner Paula Badosa from Spain in the edition that was postponed to autumn due to Corona.