Australian Open 2019: Angelique Kerber crushes Aussie novice to reach fourth round
Angelique Kerber celebrated her birthday by dropping just one game against No. 240-ranked wild-card entry Kimberly Birrell at the Australian Open.
Birthday girl Angelique Kerber thrashed Australian wildcard Kimberly Birrell 6-1 6-0 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday and complete a late-night horror show for the locals at Rod Laver Arena.
On the day of her 31st birthday, the German former champion has enjoyed a stellar start at Melbourne Park and 240th-ranked Birrell had nowhere to hide in front of a packed centre court crowd.
The match followed Rafael Nadal’s straight sets demolition of Australian number one Alex De Minaur.
READ: Ruthless Rafael Nadal romps past Alex De Minaur
Roaring through the first set in 27 minutes, Kerber’s procession was held up briefly as Birrell saved three match points.
Yet the former world number one made no mistake on the fourth, rushing forward to hammer a forehand winner down the line to set up a clash against American Danielle Collins.
17-year-old threat
All of 17, never the winner of a Grand Slam match until this week, Amanda Anisimova is making quite a first impression at the Australian Open.
Anisimova showed precisely why there are those who consider her a possible future star, producing one spectacular shot after another Friday to upset 11th-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-2 and reach the fourth round.
“I want to win this tournament,” Anisimova said, tapping her right index finger on a table for emphasis at her post-match news conference. “Right now.”
She is the youngest American to get this far at Melbourne Park since Jennifer Capriati in 1993 — and at any Grand Slam tournament since Serena Williams at the 1998 French Open. Pretty heady company.
