Angelique Kerber clinched her second consecutive title at the Porsche Indoor Grand Prix in Stuttgart after beating Laura Siegemund 6-4 6-0 in the all-German final in front of 4600 fans who packed the sold-out Stuttgart Porsche Arena.
Angelique Kerber put an end to the fairytale of Laura Siegemund, who enjoyed her breakthrough week in the home tournament scoring three consecutive wins over top 10 players Simona Halep, Roberta Vinci and Agnieszka Radwanska.
Siegemund will move up from number 71 to 42 next week overtaking her compattiots Mona Barthel, Julia Goerges, Anna-Lena Friedsam and Sabine Lisicki.
Siegemund got an early break in the second game of the first set and held her service game to race out a 3-0 lead to 15. Kerber earned three break points in the fifth game and converted her second chance to claw her way back to 2-3. Siegemund broke serve for the second time in the sixth game for 4-2 but Kerber got the immediate break in the seventh game. From 2-4 Kerber reeled off four consecutive games, including her third break of serve in the ninth game for 5-4 en route to winning the first set 6-4 on her second set point.
The second set started with a long first game in which Siegemung saved three break points before Kerber clinched the break on her fourth opportunity. Siegemund needed medical treatment for her sore back.
Kerber broke twice more by winning the third and fifth games to 15 and clinched her second consecutive win in Stuttgart on her first match point when Siegemund sent her backhand slice into the net.
“It’s incredible to win my second consecutive title in Stuttgart.. It could not get any better here than today. I needed time to find my rhythm in the first set. She played a great tournament and I am happy that I could beat her today. It was special to win here today”, said Kerber after the match.
Kerber suffered early defeats in Doha and Indian Wells following her surprising first Grand Slam title in Melbourne but returned to her best form in Miami where she reached the semifinals.
Before the back-to-back titles won by Kerber the Stuttgart tournament was won by other German players Anke Huber (1991 and 1994) and Julia Goerges (2011).
Kerber and Siegemud have played the first all-German final at the Porsche Arena since this tournament moved from Filderstadt (the home town of Siegemund) to Stuttgart in 2006.
Earlier this year Siegemund reached her first Grand Slam third round at the Australian Open after taking an upset win over Jelena Jankovic. Later this year the player from Baden Wurtthenberg beat Madison Keys en route to qualifying for the quarter finals at Charleston. The 28-year-old German lost her first set against Kerber in this week’s Stuttgart final after winning all her previous seven consecutive matches in straight sets (including the qualifying round).
“I played eight matches in nine days. I will take a period of rest to recover from the effort”, said Siegemund.
