Birthday girl Kerber digs deep for victory over compatriot

Angelique Kerber revelled as Rod Laver Arena sang her happy birthday but it was not all smiles for the top seed against Carina Witthoeft in the Australian Open second round.

Kerber, who turned 29 yesterday, was made to dig deep for her 6-2 6-7 (3/7) 6-2 victory over her German compatriot, who led by a break in the decider, after winning nine points in a row.

There was an angry swish of the racket from Kerber, who for a short period lost focus before finally rediscovering her groove to book her place in round three.

She will now play world No 58 Kristyna Pliskova, the twin sister of Karolina, whom Kerber beat in the final here last year.

The left-handed Kristyna Pliskova will be a dangerous opponent too, having backed up a strong finish to 2016 by knocking out 27th seed Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round.

The connection with her sister and fifth seed Karolina adds extra spice but Kerber was unperturbed about seeing a similar face over the other side of the net.

“I don’t know if it’s weird,” Kerber said. “One is right-handed and the other one is left so this is the difference. But I played once against her a few years ago and I know that she has a great serve, as well. I will look forward to playing against her.”

Another answering questions about her age is 36-year-old Venus Williams, who is the oldest woman playing singles at Melbourne Park.

The American, who made her Australian Open debut in 1998 aged 17, cruised into the second round with a 6-3 6-2 win over Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland.

An elbow problem, however, caused Venus to withdraw from the women’s doubles, where she was due to play with sister Serena.

French Open champion Garbine Muguruza edged a tight match against American Samantha Crawford 7-5 6-4 while eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and 11th seed Elina Svitolina both enjoyed comfortable victories.