By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, March 26, 2017
Top-ranked Angelique Kerber rallied from 0-3 down in the first set and 2-4 deficit in the second set defeating Shelby Rogers, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the Miami fourth round.
Photo credit: Miami Open
Despite fast feet, Angelique Kerber has been a wobbly front-runner at times this season.
Kerber managed back-to-back wins once in three prior tournaments as world No. 1 as the burden of defending the top spot seemed to bind the German into protectionary play.
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After a slow start, the top-seeded Kerber played her most proactive tennis while crafting comeback art today.
Down a break in both sets, Kerber carved out a 6-4, 7-5 conquest of American Shelby Rogers reaching the Miami Open fourth round for the third time in the last four years.
Fellow two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova continued her potential quarterfinal collision course with Kerber.
The seventh-seeded Kuznetsova dismissed American qualifier Taylor Townsend, 6-4, 6-2, in 78 minutes.
It was Kuznetsova’s seventh victory in her last eight matches following her run to the Indian Wells final last week. The 2016 Miami finalist will face either three-time former champion Venus Williams or qualifier Patricia Maria Tig in the fourth round with the winner playing Kerber if the seeds hold true to form.
Playing reactive tennis at the outset, Kerber found herself playing hit-and-run as Roger rolled to a 3-0 lead.
Rogers broke for 2-0 when Kerber shuffled an awkward low forehand long. The Charleston native backed up the break before Kerber finally cracked the scoreboard.
The US Open champion regained the break then held to level.
Rogers hit some high levels of play but struggled to sustain it throughout this match. She unraveled double faulting to gift the second straight break. By then, Kerber had produced a four-game run.
Cranking a forehand into the corner, Kerber stretched the lead to 5-3.
Straddling the baseline, Kerber soaked up the American’s power and curled a crosscourt forehand winner snatching a one-set lead.
The pair traded breaks to start the second set. Rogers swept aside three break points earning a hard-fought hold for 3-2.
That stand jolted Rogers into action. Hitting with more depth than the world No. 1, Rogers broke at love for 4-2 as Kerber slapped a tight forehand into the middle of the net. Rogers, who knocked off Simona Halep at the Australian Open in January, is at her best controlling the center of the court and playing first-strike tennis.
The 2016 Roland Garros quarterfinalist can’t match Kerber’s consistency in running rallies so she tried taking aggressive cracks on attackable balls. Ambition got the best of Rogers, who hit a stray forehand as Kerber broke back in the seventh game.
A Kerber drive off the line skidded beneath Rogers’ racquet leaving her to stare at the baseline. That swing and a miss preceded a flat forehand into net that had Roger looking at two break points.
Dancing at mid-court Rogers overshot the sideline with a diagonal smash. Kerber collected her fifth break of the match for 6-5 after 86 minutes of play.
The left-handed German will play 87th-ranked Japanese Risa Ozaka for a place in the final eight. The Japanese qualifier broke serve five times in a 7-6 (5), 6-3 triumph over Germany’s Julia Goerges.
No. 10-seeded Johanna Konta won 18 of 20 first-serve points pounding Pauline Parmentier, 6-4, 6-0. Konta dropped just five points on serve wrapping up an impressive 63-minute win. The 25-year-old Konta raised her record to 15-3 moving to within one win of her fourth consecutive quarterfinal this season.