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Kerber continues to impress

In the last month Kerber has been in a 9-game winning row on clay. With an enormous heartiness and feistiness in Stuttgart she plays excellent tennis, and by beating Sharapova and Makarova she confirmed that. Brengle has a strong result, but Kvitova and Garcia had a "ton" of errors in the last two matches. Kerber can't repeat that

Less than a month ago Kerber was nowhere. Yes, physically she was part of the tennis world, but far from any results. The start of the season was terrible for her; she fell out of the Top 10 and after being defeated by Kuznetsova in Miami no one predicted her comeback. Kerber's record at the time was 8-9. For one Top player those numbers are terrible, and her bad game and lack of confidence were also worrying.

But the title in Charleston changed everything from ground up. She beat Keys in the finals, a player who demolished all of her opponents that week. Until the finals, of course. One such win, one such title after being beaten three times in them last year, raised Kerber's confidence. The German selector's wish for Kerber not to perform against Russia was  very strange. The selector pointed out that Kerber needs more time to adapt, but with the Sunday match and a convincing win against Pavlyuchenkova denied that.

Here in Stuttgard Kerber is led by her fans, by her heartiness and feistiness, but with her game before everything. That earned her the semi-finals. This is her favorite tournament, she pointed that out herself, and now she repeated the success from two years ago when she also played the semi-finals. By beating Sharapova who won this tournament three times is only the icing on the cake that Kerber is not the same player now and two months ago. She turned over one really tough match, won in the end, and yesterday she also beat Makarova after losing 3-0 in the first set. Self-confidence does wonders.

- Everyone expected a win, especially after I beat Sharapova. I tried to take the energy from the fans, play one point at a time. Makarova played well from the start, I started out slow. But after 0-3 I found my rhythm. I played more aggressively and that paid off - said Kerber who is currently in a 9-game winning run on clay.

After Australia Brengle lost her game rhythm, and thus the scores too. But, with two good scores on American tournaments (Osprey, Charleston) she got back into shape. She never performed in Stuttgart in the main draw, but so far she has been stopped in the qualifications twice, and today she's playing the semi-finals. She beat Brianti in the first round, a player who is at the sunset of her career, and in the next two rounds she had excellent wins. She beat two similar game styles, from the strong serve to strong hits. Kvitova played her first clay match, she was terribly slow with a number of errors. Garcia had two matches behind herself, and in both she was very good, her serve was strong, her hits efficient. But she was desperate against Brengle.

- Garcia plays very solid, she attacks the ball early, she has a strong efficient left-handed serve - pointed out Brengle after the match in which she used 3/3 break-points, and Garcia only 1/11.

Brengle surprised us nicely with this score. But we should mention that Kvitova and Garcia missed a lot of things, and in the end they made a lot of errors. Kerber can't repeat that much errors. She is in a 9-game wining run on clay, she has a lot of confidence and she's far more closer to winning today.

Kerber is ina 9-game winning run. The Charlesto title raised her confidence and with only three matches here she raised her game on an excellent level. This is her favorite tournament, the fans help her deal with difficult situations and I don't see a reason to put such odds on her at this moment. Brengle earned the semi-finals with a good, firm game, but Kvitova and Garcia had a "ton" of errors. Kerber can't repeat that at this moment. She has a different game style than Brengle's two opponents had, and she's also better. Kerber would meet with Wozniacki or Halep in the finals. She has a 5-4 record against Wozniacki, and 0-2 against Halep, but one of those matches was played six years ago. Kerber can deal with the semi-finals match a lot more convincingly than that's expected from the Wozniacki and Halep. Kerber can play "al pari" match both against Wozniacki and Halep, without any trouble. As with the serve, so with the exchanges. We mustn't ignore the home court, the self-confidence and Kerber's momentum. Kerber could enter the big finals more rested, and there, no matter who she plays against, these odds can't be right. In such circumstances and with such a game - no way.