After beating long-time world No.1 Serena Williams at the Rio Olympics, today Elina Svitolina upset still fresh No.1 Angelique Kerber in the third round of the China Open.
In the 45-minute first set, the 19th-ranked Svitolina saved as much as nine of ten break points, six of which happened in a topsy-turvy ninth game, while Kerber saved none of the two she faced.
In the second set, seed No.16 Svitolina rallied from an early loss of serve and the aggressive game helped her record two more breaks to stun Kerber 6-3 7-5. In the quarterfinals, the 22-year-old Ukrainian will face Australian Daria Gavrilova, who beat Caroline Garcia of France 6-4 6-3.
Germany’s Kerber is feeling the strain of a busy schedule in the season which saw her win two Grand Slam titles and claim the No.1 ranking. After her US Open triumph, the German lost to highly-inspired Petra Kvitova in a third-round epic at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, and now to Svitolina, who had already claimed one No.1 scalp this year, so the losses are far from low-profile.
Svitolina played fantastic and she’s flying all over the court, but kerber also played fine. Must say that was a nice competition & alot of entainment for the tennis players.