German No.1 Angelique Kerber has said that she needs more time to adjust to the North American hard courts after crashing out in the second round of the Rogers Cup.
Kerber, who was the fourth seed in the tournament, won just five games during her 6-4, 6-1, loss to Alize Cornet. Making it the first time she has failed to reach the third round of the tournament since 2013. The lacklustre display from Kerber consisted of 18 winners to 32 unforced errors as well as three double faults. Enabling Cornet to power her way to her 17th win over a top 10 player in her career and the third this season.
“I think for me it was my first match after three weeks.” Kerber said during her press conference. “It is always not so easy to change surfaces. I think I need a little bit more time to get used to hard court again, to have a lot of matches, a lot of practice sessions on hard.”
“I think that I made too many mistakes in the important moments.”
The defeat is the second consecutive year that Kerber has lost to her French rival. At the 2017 Beijing Open, Cornet strolled to a 6-4, 6-4, victory. Overall, their head-to-head is now tied at 3-3. Cornet will take on Australian 15th seed Ashleigh Barty in the third round.
“I know maybe I was not playing the best that I can play.” The world No.4 admitted.
“She (Cornet) played good. She already played a match yesterday.
“I think for me it’s more important to learn from the match, to look forward, to take the positives, trying to be better in the next tournament.”
Montreal was the first tournament Kerber has played in since her triumph at Wimbledon. At the All England Club she defeated Serena Williams to win her third grand slam title at the age of 30. Her second title on the WTA Tour this year after Brisbane.
Despite the blip, Kerber is refusing to be too critical of her performance as the US Open nears. A tournament she won in 2016. Instead, she has pledged to learn from her latest defeat on the tour. It is only the second time she has lost her opening match of a tournament this season after the Mallorcja Open.
“Of course, it was not the plan to play just one match (in Montreal). But at the end this is tennis: every tournament starts from zero. Now I will try to get ready, learn from the match for the next tournament.” She concluded.
Kerber will return to action next week at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
