Angelique Kerber today defeated the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu in the Charleston quarterfinals 6-2 6-3, the same scoreline with which Kerber won last round. The German seems to be having great momentum coming into the conclusion of the tournament. If Kerber will make the final, she will maintain the second place in the rankings. If she loses, she will dropped to No. 3, and Agnieszka Radwanska will replace her.
Her opponent next round will be Sloane Stephens. The last American left standing got to the semifinals through Daria Kasatkina. Stephens won 6-1 5-7 7-5 after 2 hours and 26 minutes. The match had a nerve-wrenching ending, as Kasatkina got to a match point, at 4-5 and 30-40, but after that Kasatkina didn’t win another point. Stephens won 11 points in a row to win the match and get to the semifinals. This is what Kerber and Stephens had to say about their upcoming match.
“Sloane is a great player, I know, and I’ve played against her a few times already,” Kerber said. “I will just try to go out against her and try to take the challenge, to play a good match.”
“She’s playing well. She’s obviously Grand Slam champion now, so it’s going to be difficult. But I’m looking forward to it, just looking forward to getting out there and competing, and I’m excited for that.”
Sara Errani is definitely one of the players that is glad that clay season is here, and she’s taking full advantage, as she already is in the semifinals of Charleston. The Italian faced the unseeded Yulia Putintseva. The thrilling first set, concluding 7-2 in the tiebreaker lasted and incredible hour and 18 minutes. The second set was dominated by Errani, winning it 6-1.
Her opponent will be the qualifier Elena Vesnina, who is trying to get back to her former place in the rankings, and it seems her Charleston run might just do the trick. In the live rankings, Vesnina is listed as World No. 64, meaning that she will climb 21 spaces in the rankings if she loses in the semifinals. If Vesnina wins her match against Errani, she might re-enter the Top 50. Vesnina had probably the easiest opponent in the quarterfinals, getting past World No. 75 Laura Siegemund in two tight sets 7-5 6-4.
