Angelique Kerber, playing her first tournament since winning the Australian Open and competing in the Fed Cup, was the top seed at the Qatar Total Open. She met Saisai Zheng in her opening match for the first time after the 22-year-old had dispatched Varvara Lepchenko in her first round match.
On paper it looked like a straightforward victory for the top seed, but it was anything but that. Zheng was retrieving every ball reminiscent of Kerber’s own defensive skill and used net approach play so effectively it was drawing errors from the German. A tight first set went the way of Zheng before she cruised to take the second set defeating Kerber 7-5, 6-1 in sensational style.
Slow Start For Both But The Brilliance Of Zheng Was Starting To Show
It was a nervy start for Kerber who got broken from the get-go. The German getting the immediate break back and looked to have settled. It was not to be as both women lost serve once again. The top seed finally found her footing to hold to love for the first time for 3-2.
The match started to heat up as the two started exchanging some amazing rallies. Kerber was throwing all she had at Zheng, and the Chinese was retrieving and returning everything in a very ‘Kerber-esque’ manner. For her part, Kerber had to play a few more extra balls just to win the points. And on most occasions, Zheng was coming out on top.
As the set progressed on serves, the German was first to be troubled as Zheng continued her fearless game. Not only was her defense top notch, her forehands were also rattling Kerber and she was rewarded with break point in the ninth game. The top seed however saved it in the process to lead 5-4. The Chinese seemed to have no nerves at all as she closed her own game to level proceedings at 5-5.
Serving for a 6-5 lead, Kerber failed to hold as errors resulted in her handing a crucial break to the Chinese player. Zheng went on to close the set with no pressure at all.
Kerber’s Erratic Game Not Helping Against A Solid Zheng
Kerber started the second set holding her game to love. Zheng continued with her solid play holding her own and breaking the German in the process for a 2-1 lead. Kerber’s error count started to creep up as she tried to be more aggressive. Her efforts almost paid off as she got herself triple break point to reduce the deficit. Zheng however did not crack, pulling off some incredible play to save all three and went on to take a 3-1 lead.
Not only was Zheng able to return so many balls back to Kerber, she was drawing in the German to the net to good effect and winning points off her approach play. By now, Kerber was starting to falter as she could not keep serve to hand the game once again to Zheng who raced to a 5-1 lead before long.
Just one game away from victory, Zheng had three match points on Kerber’s serve and the German hit a disappointing double-fault to hand the set and match to the Chinese. It was all over for the top seed in an hour and 20 minutes in the biggest upset at Doha so far.
Winning Numbers For Zheng
The key factor was Zheng’s clinical game as she hit just eight unforced errors to Kerber’s staggering 38. The German though had more winners at 26 but the Chinese was not too shabby coming up with 17 herself.
Zheng was also more efficient at the net winning 85 percent of her points while Kerber only managed to win 55 percent at the net.