Kerber : There are no favourites left, I have to go for it
Angelique Kerber (Germany) bt Daria Kasatkina (Russia) 6-3, 7-5
Auditions are always twitchy affairs, that desire to get it right on the night, to deliver a performance, to snare that lead role in the putative Wimbledon hit production of Last Seed Standing Wins It.
Angelique Kerber can currently lay claim to the spotlight as the highest-ranked player (11th) remaining, although that is no special accolade in this bonfire-ofthe-vanities tournament.
But the 30-year-old German, a double grand slam winner in 2016, will need to master her lines better than she did here, as she required seven match points in the decisive game before she managed to quell the gutsy, erratic, bonkers challenge of one of the emerging stars of the circuit, 21-year-old Daria Kasatkina, of Russia, 6-3, 7-5.
If the Centre Court crowd needed a warm-up act before Serena Williams, these two players provided it. Kerber’s talent is known, a winner in Australia and the United States two years ago and losing finalist to Williams as well, in a year of seemingly decisive breakthrough achievements.
There was a world No1 ranking and an Olympic medal for her CV, but no real follow-up. Her momentum stalled, but there have been signs of a kick-start this season, with victory in Sydney and now her fifth semi-final of the year.
But it takes two to tango, a contest to engage an expectant audience, to-and-fro exchanges to make the connoisseur purr. And for all that to happen, we should be grateful for the arrival of Kasatkina.
There are times when the youngster has the touch of an angel, particularly on her drop shot, which is attempted and invariably executed even if she were to be in a different postcode to SW19. But it has to be said that she also has the finesse of a dervish when smashing straightforward looking shots miles out of court.
It made for a fun, turbulent, rollercoaster event, as the match stats indicated, with Kasatkina hitting 33 winners to Kerber’s 16, but also conceding 31 unforced errors to 14 by her opponent. There were seven double-faults to boot.
She scurried and skip-jumped, slithered and dashed, fist-pumped and roared, but it was not enough to ever get in front on the scoreboard which was always, if only just, in favour of Kerber.
If Kasatkina was unable to ever nip in ahead, there were times when the German almost willingly sacrificed that advantage herself.
There were nerves and brain-fades, an ironic thumbs-up to her coach at one point as she finally did what she was supposed to do and play the straightforward shot expected of such an experienced campaigner, before she finally put it to bed after 89 minutes of action.
There were five breaks of serve in the second set as each player dug deep, only to immediately wobble and hand back the goodies.
It was quality stuff, enough to satisfy even the loser as she makes her way in the world, now something of a regular at this stage.
“I hope I showed everything I can do, my shots, my emotions,” said Kasatkina. “This was my first quarter-final at Wimbledon and I hope that there will be lots more.”
There surely will be. For Kerber, there is only the wily campaigner’s focus on the next match, especially when it is against an opponent she has never faced, the 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
The German certainly has no interest in being installed as a possible favourite for the title. “There are no favourites anymore,” said Kerber. “We are in the semis right now. I’m not looking left or right. I’m not looking about the others. I know that I have to go for it, to play more aggressively, to make winners.”