By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday July 5, 2020
Angelique Kerber increased her winning streak to nine matches as she defeated Coco Gauff in straight sets on Centre Court.
Photo Source: Getty
Angelique Kerber is catching fire at the right time at Wimbledon. The former Wimbledon champion recaptured yet another slice of her former glory by taking out 17-year-old American Coco Gauff to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time since she claimed the Wimbledon title in 2018.
It is starting to feel like déjà vu all over again.
Kerber has emerged as a top contender for the title over the last few weeks, and it all started at Bad Homburg where she made a title run on home soil that featured a win over two-time champion Petra Kvitova.
She’s carried that form to SW19 and on Monday she was sharp as a tack as she asserted herself early and often to knock off Gauff in two hotly contested sets for her ninth consecutive win.
Gauff was having a brilliant tournament at the service stripe through one week, and she led the tournament in unreturned first and second serves, while dropping serve just three times in three matches. But Kerber took that weapon out of Gauff’s hands by putting 82 percent of her returns in play and breaking the No.20 seed four times on five opportunities.
Kerber had Gauff playing catchup all day, and the German was able to deliver on serve whenever things got close. She didn’t allow Gauff to get a comeback on track, despite the fact that the American played some very solid tennis at times. Gauff hit 25 winners and 25 unforced errors, and cracked a 125 MPH serve at one point, the fastest serve registered in the Ladies' Singles tournament.
Kerber saved a pair of break points while serving at 4-3 in the second set, and then held at love to serve out the match, closing with an ace down the T, her third of the contest, to set a quarter-final clash with Karolina Muchova.
The German, who owns a 2-0 lifetime edge against Muchova, is the only former Wimbledon champion remaining in the Ladies' Singles draw—she improves to 35-11 at Wimbledon with the win.
Gauff drops to 6-2 lifetime at Wimbledon, and 1-3 in Grand Slam round of 16 matches.
More to follow…