Angelique Kerber reached the third round of the tennis tournament in Indian Wells after a great fight. The 36-year-old former world number one won against number ten Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 5:7, 6:3, 6:3.
For Kerber, it was the first time since returning from her baby break that she was able to win two games in a row at a tournament. In the first round she prevailed against Croatian Petra Martic. The hard court tournament in Indian Wells is endowed with 9.26 million US dollars (around 8.5 million euros).
“Jelena is a strong opponent, she played so well this year. I knew that I had to play very well,” said Kerber. “It’s a very important win for me. Winning a game like that gives me a lot of confidence.”
Kerber has been a mother for a year. She has been active again on the WTA tour since January. She has now won three of the nine games since her comeback. Against Ostapenko she used her fourth match point to win after 2:13 hours.