Angelique Kerber entered the 2019 Osaka Open semi-final after a tough, error-prone battle with Madison Keys, who retired from their encounter in the third set on Friday.
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It was when Kerber went down fighting to Alison Riske in the first round at Zhengzhou that signs of resurrection were first on show before that opening round win against Nicole Gibbs two days ago here in Osaka. Against Keys, Kerber knew she held a head-to-head advantage, an 8-2 lead but given her own form and Keys’ recent showing, even the bookmakers had the American starting out as a favourite.
In an error-strewn match, Kerber was broken in the first game of the opening set, but broke back in the fourth to level it 2-2. Her joy was short-lived as Keys quickly broke back again but Kerber retaliated to reel off three games in a row, including two more breaks of serves.
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The German had a chance to serve out the set at 5-3, but dropped her serve only for Keys to pay back in kind; Kerber winning the set 6-4.
The second set was not too different from the first with services getting broken regularly. Keys drew first blood in the third game, Kerber levelled it off in the next, and this exchange continued on the next four games as well. It took Keys a fourth break of the Kerber serve in the second set to finally hold on to her, serving out the set to 15.
It wasn’t long before Keys retired from the match but not before the pair had exchanged another break.
Kerber had snapped a five-match losing streak by winning her second round match at the Osaka Open but Keys had started a favourite in their quarter-final. The German was leading 2-1 in the third set of that match when Keys retired from it as a result of an injury to award Kerber her ninth win over the American.
World number one for a while, Kerber’s season looked to have crashed following a couple of solid showings on grass. She had been a semi-finalist at Mallorca and then made the final of the Eastbourne Open in the lead-up to the 2019 Wimbledon. Having won the title at Wimbledon in the past made her one of the favourites, if not the only real threat, but a shock second round loss at the hands of Lauren Davis began her downward spiral.
Another stunning result followed at Toronto where she won the first set of her opener against Daria Kasatkina 6-0 before losing the next two. An opening defeat at Cincinnati would barely serve as practice for the year’s final major and a first round loss at the US Open proved just that.
Kerber will now take on the winner of the quarter-final between Misaki Doi and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Saturday.
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