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By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, March 14, 2019

 
Angie Kerber

Angelique Kerber ousted Venus Williams, 7-6 (3), 6-3, advancing to her third Indian Wells semifinal vs. streaking Belinda Bencic.

Photo credit: @BNP Paribas Open

Quarterfinal remodeling came to Stadium 1.

Angelique Kerber constructed a moveable baseline wall and Venus Williams couldn’t beat it down.

More: Streaking Bencic Into First Indian Wells Semifinal

Playing clean combinations, Kerber conquered Williams, 7-6 (3), 6-3, advancing to her third Indian Wells semifinal.




"I think that I played every single point each, especially in the first set to get used to her game, how she is playing, and also to how she changed the rhythm a little bit, to focusing on every single point," Kerber said. "Like going for it also when she put, like, the lob ones and the high ones and then the short ones.

"So I was, in the first set, thinking that I was, like, moving everywhere and when I have the chances to move her. And I think that was the key point for me in the match."

It is Kerber’s first Palm Springs semifinal in six years and pits her against torrid Swiss Belinda Bencic, who rides a 12-match winning streak into the final four.

The 22-year-old Bencic has made her birthday week and extended celebration.

The Dubai champion out-dueled Karolina Pliskova, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, raising her record to 17-2, including a superb 6-1 mark vs. Top 10 opponents.

Former world No. 7 Bencic has won three of four meetings with Kerber, including all three hard-court clashes, but Kerber won their most recent encounter at the 2018 Wimbledon.

"Belinda is, like, playing great tennis," Kerber said. "Of course, when you play matches against one few times, you know already how she is playing or, like, how the game plan looks like. And when you're practicing with her, it's the same.

"I mean, you get used to the speed, to the technique, to everything. You feel the ball. I mean, we practicing a lot. Maybe that helps me, also, to play good matches against her in the last matches. I don't know if it's about the practice."

Kerber has amassed her first four-match, hard-court winning streak since she reached the 2018 Australian Open semifinals.

The reigning Wimbledon champion counter-punched with precision, passed with accuracy and grew increasingly stingy with unforced errors as the match progressed.

Playing with wrapping around her right knee and a blue sleeve surrounding her right elbow, Williams did not find her fastball on serve for virtually the entire first set, but deployed her entire shot spectrum, including a rainbow lob, drop shots and even a slice forehand, to stay in step.

"I did the best I could," said Williams in a brief post-match presser. "I mean, she's won a lot of matches. She knows how to survive."

The only American still standing among the 17 U.S. ladies who started the tournament used the high ball at times to back Kerber up. But by the ninth game, Kerber was stepping in and trying to take the ball on the rise. Williams scattered a couple of backhands down the line as Kerber scored her second break for 5-4.

A tense 10th game so Kerber fight off four break points, but the sturdy German could not summon a game point and a relentless Williams would not yield. Kerber clanked her first double fault to face a fifth break point.




This time, the seven-time Grand Slam champion cranked a crosscourt backhand return to break back for 5-all.

Baseline exchanges extended as the opening set escalated into a tie breaker—just the third set breaker in nine meetings between the pair—and Kerber immediately raced out to a 3-0 lead as Williams picked the wrong time to produce her sloppiest play.

The 38-year-old veteran did a fine job using her variety to gunk up the gears of the German’s game, but Williams netted a relatively routine forehand swing volley then dragged a backhand wide to face three set points.

On her first set point, Kerber closed the 58-minute set when Williams netted a backhand. Williams committed six of her 20 first-set errors in the tie breaker.

Twenty-five years after she made her pro debut, Williams’ appetite for the fight remains undiminished. A fierce Williams fended off three break points surviving a demanding game to hold for 2-all.




Credit Kerber for the patience to pound away even as more break points slipped from her grip. Williams fought off for more break points before Kerber bended low to bang a forehand for a fifth break point.

The woman wearing the blue sleeve around her right elbow steered a forehand wide as Kerber finally broke through for 4-2.

Growing stronger with each passing game, a confident Kerber served it out at love, beating Williams for the sixth time in nine meetings to earn a spot in her first semifinal since last July when she defeated Serena Williams to win Wimbledon.

 

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