Less than two weeks after preventing Caroline Wozniacki from winning her third straight home tournament title in Copenhagen, German Angelique Kerber defeated the Dane again, this time in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
Last year’s Stuttgart runner-up Wozniacki, seeded sixth this time, went out in just 63 minutes, 6-1 6-2. Kerber was so solid that she didn’t even face a single break point and won 92% on her first serve. Wozniacki, on the other hand, has some pretty embarrassing stats, like the 14% of second serve points won and just 8% of first serve return points won.
Kerber’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be Petra Kvitova, who defeated Francesca Schiavone 6-2 6-2. Other quarterfinal pairs: Victoria Azarenka vs. Mona Barthel, Maria Sharapova vs. Samantha Stosur, Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Li Na. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)
Well, call this “drubbing” too (see my comment on the previous post). Poor Caroline, she wasn’t even playing badly, not at all. You’ve got to give it to her, though: as usual, she never stopped fighting, to the bitter end – and gave Angelique a genuine smile during the final handshake (well, that arm-wrestling grip really, which, as I gather, should have the same meaning).
I don’t understand what so sinister is about a grip of a hand? You are trying to make an issue out of nothing here. Wozniacki is always very polite and friendly towards her opponents.
Marine, I’m afraid you completely misunderstood my side-remark on the newfangled form of the good old handshake. To explain it would be equal to telling a joke and then explaining what’s funny in it, so I’ll only give you a hint: it has nothing to do with Wozniacki (or whichever particular player, for that matter), whose sportsmanship I thought I actually gave full praise to in my comment.