It was just a few months ago that people were writing off Angelique Kerber.
The German, who since 2012 has been a permanent top 10 fixture, had slipped to world No.16 after losing her opening-round matches at the Australian Open, Antwerp, Doha and Indian Wells. In the first three months of the season, her win-loss record stood at 8-9. But Kerber is nothing if not a fighter and approached her situation as she would a big-hitting opponent. She plugged away, she battled, and she turned things around.
What has followed has been nothing short of a stunning reversal of fortunes. Kerber has since won three WTA Premier titles and 24 of her past 27 matches, surging back inside the top 10. The most recent of those three titles – on the lawns of Birmingham – cemented her as one of the outside contenders for Wimbledon. And in a decimated women’s draw, she is now shaping as one of the legitimate favourites.
Her latest result was a 7-5, 6-2 victory over the stylish former world No.13 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, following on from a 6-0, 6-0 victory first-round triumph over fellow German Carina Witthoeft.
“I’m feeling good, I’m playing good on grass and I like to play on this surface so I’m really having fun out there and trying to play good tennis,” she said. “I knew (Pavlyuchenkova) very well because we’ve played a lot of times before. The first set was very close, I mean she was playing very good tennis, but I was just trying to be tougher than her and just fighting for every point.”
She is known primarily as a counter-puncher – these skills were integral in her thrilling three-set victory over Maria Sharapova en route to last year’s quarter-finals – yet Kerber was extremely aggressive, devastating off the backhand wing and producing a mighty 24 winners against just six unforced errors.
When it was put to her that six of the top 12 women’s seeds had been eliminated from the draw, Kerber simply laughed. “I’m not thinking about this, I’m really looking from round to round about my next opponent, and that’s it,” she answered.
I'm feeling good on grass and I like to play on this surface
Next up for Kerber is No.20 seed Garbine Muguruza, who survived the stiff challenge of Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to advance to the third round for the first time. Lucic, famous at Wimbledon for her scintillating run to the semi-finals in 1999 as a 17-year-old ranked No.134, pushed the Spaniard with her hyper-aggressive game but finished with nearly double the amount of unforced errors. Muguruza won 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
“I’m very happy because I knew from the moment I saw I was playing Lucic it was going to be a not comfortable match, because she plays really deep, really strong, and I know she loves grass. She did semi-finals one year here and I lost to her six months ago. So I’m very happy to be through,” she said.
Muguruza said that despite having relatively little competitive experience on grass, she felt it was a surface that suited her game. She will need to feel this level of comfort in the last 32 against Kerber, who is in the form of her life on the lawns. "She’s also going to be nervous to play against me, so that’s the good part,” Muguruza laughed.
One of the most heartening stories of 2015 has been the return and rise of Timea Bacsinszky, a Swiss talent who has dealt with off-court turmoil to storm into the world’s top 20. Her biggest result to date was reaching the semi-finals of Roland Garros a few weeks ago. Her latest triumph was a 6-2, 6-1 win over Spaniard Silvia Soler Espinosa, a match in which she recorded 36 winners to seven and committed only 16 unforced errors. Her smooth backhand was particularly effective; Soler Espinosa simply could not read it, and was frequently wrong-footed on Court 18.
“I tried to mix up the rhythm and maybe try to rush her with some big hits,” said Bacsinszky. “I feel great. I’m adapting myself quite well to any kind of courts, and I think my game is getting better and better on grass. Actually you can do a lot of stuff on grass, as long as you understand the game of the surface.”
Bacsinszky, the No.15 seed, feels no extra pressure after her rapid ascent. This bodes well against Sabine Lisicki. “I don’t except myself to win, to be brilliant; just expect from myself to be committed and to be efficient, if I can,” she said. “It’s going to definitely be a very difficult match for me. I don’t put myself as the favourite, but the opposite, because I think she has some great weapons.”
Another player with great grass-court weapons is Madison Keys, who dismissed Elizaveta Kulichkova 6-4, 7-6(3) on Court 8 to reach the third round for the third year running. The No.21 seed thumped her serve and forehand throughout the contest, shots that the slightly-built Kulichkova struggled to control.
“I think it's really important being able to win when you're not playing your best, or you come into a tournament not having a lot of matches and kind of struggling through some early rounds, bBut I think I played pretty well today. I played better than the first round. I was just really happy,” Keys said.
Agnieszka Radwanska was also a happy player following her 6-0, 6-2 victory over Ajla Tomlanovic. The Pole, seeded No.13 and a Wimbledon finalist in 2012, avenged her defeat by Tomljanovic at last year’s French Open. After a tepid 2015, Radwanska has now won nine of her past 11 grass-court matches and has been doing so in ruthless fashion.
“(Earlier this year) I didn't feel good. I was a little bit exhausted. I had a couple really tough months. Now I think, first of all, I'm just feeling much better. I think also grass changed everything, as well. Helps me go to my best level I can play tennis,” she said.
Ekaterina Makarova, the No.8 seed, was the biggest casualty, last year’s quarter-finalist losing to Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova. Makarova was joined on the sidelines by No.17 seed Elina Svitolina, who fell to crafty Aussie Casey Dellacqua, and the No.25 seed, Alize Cornet, who went down to Belarusian qualifier Olga Govortsova.
