Kerber stunned

> World No. 1 stunned by Russian teen

RUSSIAN teenager Daria Kasatkina put Angelique Kerber’s Australian Open preparations in a spin with a straight-sets upset win over the world No. 1 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 lost 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 No. 1, struggled to find any rhythm and her usually strong forehand was astray.

Asked about her emotions after her biggest win yet, Kasatkina said courtside: “Difficult to explain because I beat the No. 1 in the world and it doesn’t happen every day. I think I got some confidence.”

World No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova went out to Russian compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-3 while Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard continued her return to form with a 6-4, 6-3 win over the sixthranked Dominika Cibulkova.

“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.” – AFP