Top seed Angelique Kerber was up against Irina-Camelia Begu in the first quarterfinal match at the Volvo Car Open. It was a rematch of the same stage last year in which Kerber prevailed. With their current head-to-head tied at 2-2, a win would give either the lead in that account along with a place in the semifinals.
Kerber was in control from start to finish. Begu seemed to run out of steam towards the end, but it was a solid performance from the defending champion who cruised past the Romanian in straight sets.
Clinical Kerber Not Troubled
As the players held their first service games with relative ease, Kerber made the first breakthrough, profiting from a forehand into the net from Begu to go 2-1 up. The defending champion barely broke sweat racing to consolidate the break for a 3-1 lead.
The error count from Begu’s forehand side was steadily increasing as Kerber maintained her lead comfortably. Some great defensive work from the German earned her double break point opportunity in the seventh game. Kerber capitalized and got the double break as Begu's forehand went astray. As the top seed served for the set, Begu tried her best, hitting harder and finding a couple of winners. However, it was not enough as Kerber faced no break points on her way to clinch the first set 6-2.
Begu Unable To Make Any Breakthrough Against A Solid Kerber
Having played three sets in all her previous rounds seemed to take a toll on the Romanian. It was evident in the longer rallies as Kerber came up tops in most of them. Begu had to dig deep to hold to start the second set. She kept in touch with Kerber though and turned it up a notch in the fourth game almost, creating for herself triple break point. Instead she hit an easy overhead into the net and the chance was gone as the German levelled for 2-2.
Begu though was unable to sustain that level as she followed it up with a poor game, gifting the break to Kerber who led 3-2. The defending champion was barely troubled as she extended her lead to 4-2. As the players held their service games, it was Begu who had to serve to stay in the match at 3-5. Kerber came up with yet another winner to earn herself a couple of match points before sealing victory 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 12 minutes.
Winning Numbers For Kerber
Kerber was clinical from start to finish, hitting a mere nine errors to Begu’s staggering 35. Even a higher winner count for the Romanian at 23 was not able to surplus the errors. Kerber on the other hand fired 18 winners maintaining a positive winners-errors ratio.
The German was also efficient converting seven out of the eight chances that she created. Begu on other hand could not make any headway on Kerber’s games.