World No1 Kerber stunned by Russian teen

RUSSIAN t e e nager Dar i a Kasatkina put Angelique Kerber’s Australian Open preparations in a spin with a straightsets upset win over the world No1 at the Sydney International yesterday.

The 19-year-old, ranked 26, underlined her huge potential with a confident performance to take out the German, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 in a second-round match played in sweltering conditions.

Only last week Kasatkina held a match point before going down to French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the second round at the Brisbane International.

While she continues her march, Kerber’s form is a concern ahead of next week’s opening Grand Slam of the year, having also l ost to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International last week.

Kerber, who had a breakthrough 2016, winning two Grand Slams on her way to becoming world No1, struggled to find any rhythm and her usually strong forehand was astray.

“I made too many mistakes and I was not actually feeling the ball, because the balls are flying here a little bit different than in Brisbane,” Kerber said. “So it was not so easy, but I will try to forget the match as soon as I can. I will go in the next few days to Melbourne, and I will try to get ready there, trying to get the positive energy from last year.”

Asked about her emotions after her biggest win yet, Kasatkina said courtside: “Difficult to explain because I beat the No1 in the world and it doesn’t happen every day. I think I got some confidence.”

Day of upsets

Kasatkina will next play Britrit i s h worl d No10 Johanna Konta, onta, whose formidaidable serve trououbled Australia’sia’s Daria Gavrilova va in a 6-1, 6-3 win. .

“I’m just happy ppy that I have accumulated mulated a few matches already under my beltt in the first feww weeks of the e season,” Konta a said.

It was a day of upsets in Sydney where t e mpe r a t u r e s s i z - zled around 36 6 Celsius (97 Fahrenheit), with defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and last year’s finalist Dominika Cibulkova both knocked out in the second round. World No9 Kuzne Kuznetsova went out to Russian c compatriot Anastasia Pavlyu Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-3 while Can Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard continued her return to form with a 66-4, 6-3 win over the si sixth-ranked Cibulkova.Cibulkov FormerWimbleForm don finalistfi Bouchard,chard who has now won cons e c u t i v e matchesm at a tournamentto forf the first time since A u g u s t , stretched her lead over Cibulkova to 4-1 head-tohead and will face Pavlyuchenkova in the last eight.

“Any time you play one of the best players in the world it’s like a standard of where you’re at,” Bouchard said. “I have taken a couple of solid steps this week, but I’m far from where I want to be. Even though I won, to me, I could do a lot of things better.”

World No27 Pavlyuchenkova, who knocked out Australian No1 Samantha Stosur in the first round, won her first career meeting with Kuznetsova.

Ninth-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci was another seed to fall, losing 6-2, 6-3 to veteran Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.

Danish seventh seed Caroline Wozniacki ousted Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 7-5 and will next face Strycova.