One win from seven matches, that was Angelique Kerber’s record before the start in Indian Wells. There, one year after the birth of her daughter, she has two wins in two matches
After reaching the third round of Indian Wells and beating Jelena Ostapenko, Angelique Kerber emphasized the importance of her success. “Of course it gives me confidence to have now won against a top 10 player,” said the former world number one after the 5:7, 6:3, 6:3 victory. After many ups and downs in the duel, she had managed to win her second match in a row. It helps her a lot “to know that I can be strong in important moments”.
Ostapenko was seeded number ten at the tournament and also occupies this position in the world rankings. Kerber is number 607 in the rankings after taking a break to have a baby. She used her fourth match point against Ostapenko to win after 2:13 hours. In the third round, she will face the number 17 seed Veronika Kudermetova from Russia.
For Kerber, it was the first time since returning from maternity leave that she had won two matches in a row at a tournament. She had beaten Petra Martic from Croatia in the first round. 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 has played so well this year. I knew I had to play very well,” said Kerber.
Kerber has been a mother for a year. She has been back on the WTA Tour since January. She has now won three of the nine matches since her comeback
