Indian Wells – Angelique Kerber was eliminated in the round of 16 at the Tennis Masters in Indian Wells. The former world number one lost to Poland’s Iga Swiatek 6:4, 2:6, 3:6.
Kerber was the last German at the WTA tournament in the USA. There is also no German player left in the singles at the ATP tournament taking place at the same time. Alexander Zverev is only still competing in doubles with the Kazakh Andrei Golubev as his partner.
In the deciding set, Kerber managed the first break for 3:2, but she immediately conceded the re-break and was trailing 3:5 after losing another service game. Swiatek, who is 14 years younger, used her first match point to win. The 34-year-old had been practising with the third-seeded Pole last week on the Californian desert.
The Masters in the Californian desert is one of the most important tournaments on the WTA Tour. The hard-court event is endowed with 8,584,055 US dollars. Kerber reached the final in 2019, losing in the quarter-finals to eventual winner Paula Badosa of Spain at last year’s edition, which was moved to the autumn due to Corona.