Angelique Kerber messed up the dress rehearsal for the grass classic in Wimbledon. A few days before the start of the third Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season, the German number one was eliminated from the home event in Bad Homburg as the defending champion in the quarterfinals.
The 34-year-old from Kiel was surprisingly beaten by the French player Alizé Cornet 4: 6, 6: 2, 1: 6. Kerber could not build on their good performances from the first two rounds. She fought back against defeat in the second set. But in the third round, Cornet pulled away again.
“It just wasn’t my day today,” said Kerber. “Of course I’m disappointed, but I still know that I got everything I had in me today,” said the former world number one, who also acts as tournament director in Bad Homburg.
Before Kerber, Sabine Lisicki had already missed the semi-finals. The 32-year-old from Berlin lost to Caroline Garcia from France 3: 6, 6: 7 (7: 9). The former Wimbledon finalist had to admit defeat after 1:56 hours. This means that all German players in Bad Homburg have been eliminated. Wimbledon starts on June 27th.
Kerber: She “played more aggressively than me”
Kerber actually got off to a good start on the sold-out Center Court in Bad Homburg’s Kurpark and made the first break to make it 3-2. But then the three-time Grand Slam champion had to give up the service himself and then lost her rhythm a bit. Kerber only found her form in the second round and now dominated the action.