Kerber loses in the first round of Indian Wells

The 28 year old German Angelique Kerber, the reigning Australian Open  champion, lost in the first round of the Indian Well Masters tournament. Kerber came into the tournament seeded second only behind Serena Williams whom she defeated in the Australian Open Final in a thrilling 3 sets.

Angelique Kerber’s opponent for the day was Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic to whom she lost the match 7-5 7-5. This was the second tournament in a row in which Angelique Kerber was beaten in the first round after she lost in Doha to Saisai Zheng (7-5 6-1). Kerber looked completely out of sorts in the match as she lost the opening set 7-5. In the second set, Kerber looked like an improved player as she raced to a 4-2 lead only to be pulled back to 5-6. She double faulted and hit a forehand long to hand Denisa Allertova the game and the match. In her press match conference, Kerber said, “The pressure is much different than it was a few months ago. It’s a completely new situation for me. But I’m trying to get used to it. That’s one [more] tournament I lost now in the first round, but still, I have tournaments to go. I will try to learn from this experience, this match, and try to get better in the next weeks.”

There was also a lot of talk about the completely bandaged legs of Kerber and many suspected an injury but Kerber ruled it out and claimed that it cannot be an excuse for losing the match. The German needs to buck up if she needs to find any momentum going into the clay court swing.

Other results:

Christina McHale def Garbine muguuza : 7-5 6-1

Belinda Bencic def Lauren Davis : 6-3 3-6 6-3

Andy Murray def Marcel Granollers : 6-4 7-6

Thomas Nerdych def Del potro: 7-6 6-2

Albert Ramos Vinolas def Kyrgios : 7-6 7-5