Angelique Kerber beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-4 after 1 hour and 12 minutes to become the first play to reach the semifinals at the Porsche Indoor Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The tournament defending champion and this year’s Australian Open champion set up a semifinal against Petra Kvitova who beat Garbine Muguruza 6-1 3-6 6-0.
Kerber got an early break in the second game of the opening set for 2-0 and held all her service games until 5-2. The German player got the double break in the final game to close out the first set 6-2.
Kerber broke serve to 15 in the sixth game of the second set to take a 4-2 lead and held her service game for 5-2.
Suarez Navarro broke back in the ninth game to 30, as Kerber served for the match at 5-4 but the German overcame a late fightback by breaking again in the 10th game to close out on her first match point after 72 minutes to the delight of the 4600 fans who packed the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart.
Kerber struck 35 winners. Kerber has extended her win-loss record to 4-2 in her head-to-head matches against Suarez Navarro. Earlier this year Kerber had already beaten teh Spanish player 6-2 6-3 in Brisbane last January. Suarez Navarro had won only a match against the German star on clay in Stuttgart in 2014.
“It’s a great atmospere. I enjoyed every moment of it. It was great to play in a full house”, said Kerber.
Kerber’s semifinal rival will be Petra Kvitova who overcame a second set loss to beat Garbine Muguruza in three sets. Kvitova took a re-match against Muguruza who beat the Czech player in three sets at the 2015 WTA Finals in Singapore.
The Czech player got a double break in the fourth and sixth game to cruise to a 5-1 lead and closed out to 30 in the next game. Kvitova did not face a single break point to take the first set 6-1.
Muguruza got the only break of the second set in the sixth game to love for 4-2 and held serve to 30 in the next game. She served out to 30 to win the second set 6-3. The Spanish saved the only break point she faced in the second set.
Kvitova bounced back by winning the third set with a bagel with three breaks in the second, fourth and sixth games.
