Angelique Kerber won her first ever main draw match in Stuttgart with a superb 6-2 6-3 victory over Roberta Vinci. It was a highly entertaining match and one of the best individual performances I have witnessed in 2012. Vinci ran out of ideas in the end as Kerber dealt beautifully with everything the Italian threw at her, playing with both patience and intent. She hit her shots with an alarming degree of accuracy and clearly displayed the wealth of confidence and composure she has been building during 2012. In the first set, Kerber hit a staggering 18 winners to just 3 unforced errors with Vinci not disgracing herself at all with a +3 differential (14 winners to 11 unforced errors).
I have predicted Kerber to reach the quarter-finals and I am confident if she plays close to this level, she will stroll past either Caroline Wozniacki or Jelena Jankovic in the next round. In other matches, Sam Stosur eased past Peng Shuai, 6-2 6-2 and Marion Bartoli won the last six games of her match to defeat Iveta Benesova, 6-3 6-2. The Czech player was much the better mover on the clay, but was unable to employ the right tactics to get Bartoli on the run. Julia Goerges fought off some nerves and wayward returning to get past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 5-7 6-3 6-4. Pavlyuchenkova was hindered with a thigh injury, but played quite well considering she has won just three matches this year. Greta Arn and Alize Cornet also snapped up wins on the first day of action in Stuttgart.
Here are the highlights of Angelique Kerber's victory over Caroline Wozniacki in the final of Copenhagen just a few weeks ago.
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