Stuttgart was ready to welcome the 2016 Australian Open champion in the Porsche Arena on Wednesday as Angelique Kerber made her return to the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, coming home not only as the newest slam winner, but also as the defending Stuttgart titlist.
What was planned to be a triumphant return started off on the wrong foot as Kerber’s opponent, young German Annika Beck, came out guns blazing, taking the first set much to the surprise of the crowd. It took Kerber all the way to halfway through the second set to finally take control of the match, forcing a third set in which Beck finally faded away, allowing Kerber to move into the tournament’s quarterfinal stage.
Two other Germans won their matches in a more straightforward fashion. Julia Görges won in straight sets against Alize Cornet, while Andrea Petkovic was victorious in the second German-French duel of the day, besting Kristina Mladenovic in two sets as well.
In the evening, another top seed punched her quarterfinal ticket as Garbine Muguruza won her match against Timea Babos in straight sets.
The second round of the 2016 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix will complete on Thursday, featuring the first matches of the final two seeded players, Simona Halep & Agniezska Radwanska. Keep checking back to Women’s Tennis Blog to follow the 2016 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix to its exciting conclusion.
