Dubai: Australian Open semi-finalist Angelique Kerber has emerged as a major contender to claim the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy next month after her stunning win over Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Although she has been ranked in the world’s top 10 since 2012 and has been ranked as high as number five, the German number one has drawn little attention as she quietly and efficiently goes about her business. She reached her first Grand Slam semi-final in 2011 at the US Open and added another final four finish at Wimbledon the following year. With two further quarter-finals, at the French Open and Wimbledon, she is obviously a player for the big occasion and her victory over Azarenka proved that again.
Although she has so far failed to make an impression at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium with only one win in six matches, her current great form suggests that she can finally turn things around and she will relish the opportunity to add Dubai to the list of cities where she has triumphed.
“With her managing to defeat elsewhere so many of the players competing at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships it is puzzling that Angelique Kerber has so far been unable to repeat that success in Dubai,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice-chairman of Dubai Duty Free. “Clearly she has what it takes to win the title and it will be very interesting to see if she can finally add her name to the list of champions and be crowned as the 16th ladies winner here.”
Last season was arguably the best of her career so far as she claimed four of her seven titles, winning in Charleston, Stuttgart, Birmingham and Stanford. She also reached a fifth final in Hong Kong, and there were three semi-finals too, in Sydney, Nurnberg where she had to withdraw before the match with a back injury, and Wuhan. On her way to finishing the year ranked in the top 10 for a fourth consecutive year, she claimed impressive victories over Garbine Muguruza in Sydney, Maria Sharapova in Stuttgart, Agnieszka Radwanska in Stanford, Caroline Wozniacki in Beijing and Petra Kvitova in Singapore.
