German Angelique Kerber safely negotiated her way past Australian counterpart Samantha Stosur 6-0 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympic Games.
The opening set of the third-round match was one way traffic for Kerber, as she made playing tennis look simple. The German moved sublimely across the court and showcased her arsenal of shots, allowing Stosur to get in no rhythm whatsoever.
However, as Stosur has throughout her career, she came out in the second set in fighting mode. The Australian won the first game of the set, but looked set to leave the tournament until she really went after Kerber when the German was serving for the match. Suddenly, Stosur upped her game and finally converted her fifth break point to level at 5-5. But, just as things were looking up, Kerber immediately stepped on the gas, broke back and then served out the match, showing all the emotions of pure elation.
Kerber clearly outplayed her opponent and had too much for her on a hot evening under lights in Rio. The reigning Australian Open champion has looked in ominous form so far, as she aims to go one step further than Wimbledon and get the gold medal for Germany.
She is my pick for the gold medal
Elena Svitolina beat the best player in tennis and deserves the Gold. She is my pick although in a much tougher half of the draw than Kerber’s easy half.
Obviously, she wasn’t the best player against Petra Kvitova. I hold either Petra or Kerber as favourites.