With tour up for grabs, Kerber looks to back up Aussie Open win on clay

CHARLESTON, S.C.—There aren’t many sports whose second-best player can take an elevator down four floors and walk through the lobby of a bustling, city-center hotel virtually unnoticed. But then again, there aren’t many sports whose hierarchy is as uncertain as women’s tennis.

Serena Williams, the WTA No. 1, has lost as many matches this year as she did all of last. The fourth-ranked player, Garbine Muguruza, is a paltry 8-6 in 2016; the sixth-ranked player, Simona Halep, is 9-7. The player no one wants to face right now, Victoria Azarenka, is ranked just fifth.

It’s only April, but only three of the tour’s Top 10 have won a title this season: Azarenka, champion at Indian Wells and Miami, Agnieszka Radwanska and the player who walked through the Belmond Charleston Place on Friday morning with her racquet bag slumped over her shoulders, Angelique Kerber. The second-ranked German owns the most prestigious title offered this year, the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, which she won at the Australian Open by defeating Williams in a memorable, tightly contested final.

Kerber’s unlikely three-set victory sent the first domino of this transitional WTA season crashing to the ground, and the impact is still reverberating. There may be no better example of that than Kerber herself, who followed up her maiden major conquest with opening-round losses in Doha and Indian Wells. Only recently have we witnessed shades of the game that flummoxed both Williams and Azarenka in Melbourne; last week, Kerber advanced to the semifinals of the Miami Open, where she was beaten by Azarenka.

If Azarenka had it her way, she’d prefer to stay on hard courts for the rest of the year. The clay-court season hasn’t traditionally been her most lucrative portion of the calendar, though she’s made a point of wanting to prove her doubters wrong. For Kerber, however, the surface change couldn’t have come soon enough. She won on both green and red clay last season, part of a five-month stretch that yielded four titles.

It was no surprise, then, to see Kerber sliding on clay at her very first opportunity, in Charleston. And it will be no surprise if she goes on to defend her title in the Palmetto State. Five of the top eight seeds, including Belinda Bencic, Venus Williams and Lucie Safarova, were ousted before the quarterfinals, but of greater significance is Kerber’s own play. At her best, she blends opportunistic attacks with near-impenetrable court coverage, and both qualities were on display during a never-in-doubt, 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal win over Irina-Camelia Begu.

“It feels great to be back in the semis here,” said Kerber in the on-court interview. “I’m feeling like home.”

Sporting a colorful top that resembled a work of Matisse, Kerber painted a baseline masterpiece on Billie Jean King Court. When in control of points, she struck her shots on the rise, with complete command of pace and placement. When on the run, Kerber’s expert scrambling and, frankly, her left-handedness often turned points in her favor. Her sharply angled crosscourt forehands troubled Begu all afternoon, but her compact two-hander was equally as effective. Begu’s best tennis tended to bring out even better tennis from her accomplished adversary.

Kerber’s left-handed serve also troubled Begu, who rarely reached deuce when returning and never earned a break point. On the contrary, Kerber broke Begu’s serve four times with consistently deep returns—if not a costly double-fault, which the Romanian hit down 0-40 at 2-2 in the second set. It was the final break Kerber would need, though she’d get another for good measure in the match’s final game.

“I’m feeling good,” a satisfied Kerber said afterwards. “I had three days to get used to the clay. I’m feeling better and better.”

A comfortable Kerber is a player the entire tour should be wary of. Although Azarenka is the unquestioned player of the moment, and no one should ever discount Williams, a successful, extended run on clay could help re-establish Kerber—who, it should be said, is an all-surface threat—as a contender for player of the year. On a drama-free day in Charleston, it was perhaps the only thing to chew on.