For the first time in almost six years, Angelique Kerber will renew her rivalry with Caroline Wozniacki on the Tour later this week in Indian Wells.
The two-time Grand Slam champion knocked out 17th seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 7-5, to reach the last 16 on Sunday. Kerber is playing in only her third tournament since returning to the sport following an 18-month break due to the birth of her first child. In her latest match, she impressively broke the world No.19 six times and won 60% of her first service points.
“It’s not easy to coming back after such a long time and playing at a high level. I mean, it takes time. You have to be patient,” Kerber reflected in her press conference.
“I practiced now for months. I’m done with practice now. I’m happy having matches now because you go out on the practice court every single day and do the same things, it’s nice to be now in the tournament.”
Indian Wells has been a place of fond memories for the German who reached the final back in 2019 before losing to Bianca Andreescu. She was also a semi-finalist on two other occasions. Her tournament debut was back in 2008.
The next test for Kerber will be a showdown with her close friend and fellow tour mum Caroline Wozniacki. The two are former world No.1 players and Grand Slam champions who have played against each other 15 times on the Tour before. Kerber narrowly leads their head-to-head 8-7 but the last time they played against each other was at the 2018 Eastbourne International.
“I think we are both looking forward to this match and we are both in the same situation.” Said Kerber.
“We will try to play a good match, have a good battle out there. We are friends now and we will still be friends after a match.’
“We will of course both try to win. But at the end, I think there are more important things than a tennis match, but for the crowd and everyone it will be an interesting match.”
Wozniacki is further into her comeback to the sport than Kerber after deciding to return last summer. She sealed her place in the fourth round in Indian Wells by beating Katie Volynets 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. It is the first time the Dane has won three straight matches at the same event since last year’s US Open.
“We know each other’s games really well, we practice together all the time.” Wozniacki said of Kerber. “So it’s not like one of us will be going out there feeling like there is a clear favorite.’
“I think both of us are going out there thinking it’s a 50/50 match, and whoever grabs the opportunities best is going to win that match. I think that’s the mindset of both of us.”
Whoever wins could then play top seed Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals if the Pole wins her fourth round encounter against Yulia Putintseva.
