Brisbane: Angelique Kerber predicted that 2017 was going to have a different feel for her, considering her phenomenal breakout season last year.
It certainly started differently, with the top-ranked German losing to sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the Brisbane International quarter-finals on Thursday.
Kerber reached the final last year and fine-tuned to precision for the Australian Open, where she beat Serena Williams to claim her first Grand Slam title. She went on to reach the finals at Wimbledon and the Olympics before collecting a second major title by winning the US Open. She overhauled Williams for the top ranking and finished the year at No. 1.
After a first-round bye, Kerber struggled with her serve and had nine double-faults in a three-set win over Australian wild-card entry Ash Barty in the second round. Against the No. 14-ranked Svitolina, the German left-hander cut her double-faults down to five, and had a break in the third set after winning the second. But she quickly surrendered the break and wasn’t consistent enough, finishing with 48 unforced errors against 39 winners.
Svitolina was the only player to beat both No. 1-ranked women last year, beating Kerber in straight sets in Beijing and Williams at the Olympics. The 22-year-old Ukrainian has now closed the gap to 5-4 in career head-to-head meetings with Kerber.
In the semi-finals, she will meet US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova, who advanced by beating eighth-seeded Roberta Vinci 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
French Open champion Garbine Muguruza rallied from a 4-1 deficit to beat fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-4 to set up a semi-final match against Alize Cornet, who ousted second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 7-5.
Defending men’s champion Milos Raonic advanced to the quarter-finals with 6-3, 6-2 win over Diego Schwartzman.
The top-seeded Raonic, who had a first-round bye, had 12 aces in the 70-minute, second-round match and had four service breaks, including three in the second set. He dropped his own serve during an exchange of breaks to start the second set.
He will next meet either Rafael Nadal or Mischa Zverev, who were playing later on Thursday.
Nadal beat Raonic in an exhibition match last week in Abu Dhabi and has a 6-1 lead in career head-to-head meetings, but the Canadian was still looking forward to facing the Spaniard.
“It’s a great task,” Raonic said. “I feel like I’m doing a lot of things well and, hopefully, I can match up and play some good tennis.”
Also, fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem beat Australian wild-card entry Sam Groth 7-6 (5), 6-3 to move into a quarter-final match against seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Nicolas Mahut.
