Playing her first match since winning the Australian Open with superb performance against Serena Williams in the final, if we don’t count this month’s Fed Cup, Angelique Kerber crashed out of the Qatar Total Open, losing to China’s Zheng Saisai 7-5 6-1 in the second round.
The world two’s game was not there, she complained to her coach Torben Beltz that she had no energy and 38 unforced errors to her opponent’s eight speak for themselves. Kerber dropped serve six times in the encounter and handed the match in one hour and 19 minutes.
The 73rd-ranked Zheng recorded her first Top 5 win and will next face Eugenie Bouchard, who advanced with a 7-6(0) 7-5 victory over Czech Denisa Allertova 7-6(0) 7-5.
This has been an action-packed Tuesday in Doha, with many intriguing results, but the second most notable one is the defeat of last weekend’s Dubai champion Sara Errani, who lost to Timea Babos 6-4 6-1 in the second round.(photo: Jimmie48)
Here comes the post 1st slam slump