Angelique Kerber battles to advance to 3rd round in Melbourne

ByGREG GARBER
January 18, 2017, 12:01 AM

— -- MELBOURNE, Australia -- Last year, Angelique Kerber became the oldest first-time No. 1 in women's tennis, and Wednesday she celebrated her 29th birthday with a nervous 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-2 victory over Carina Witthoeft.

It was the second consecutive three-set affair for Kerber, who was also pushed to the limit by Lesia Tsurenko in the first round.

"To have this pressure, it's a privilege," Kerber, a native of Germany, said afterward. "It's new for me, but I think I am dealing with it pretty well."

This was Kerber's 16th straight win at a hardcourt major, going back to her triumphs at the 2016 Australian Open and US Open.

Afterward, the crowd at Rod Laver Arena happily serenaded Kerber by singing "Happy Birthday."

"Actually, I'm always playing on my birthday," Kerber said. "I'm getting older, but, yeah, I think I will have a great day."

Kerber managed to avoid an upset of historic proportions; Witthoeft would have been the fourth-lowest-ranked player in the Open era to defeat a world No. 1 at a major.

The match ran 2 hours, 8 minutes on a day that was some 30 degrees cooler than Tuesday. Kerber broke Witthoeft's serve on seven of 14 opportunities.

"I was doing I think a lot of mistakes like in the important moments," Kerber said. "But at the end, I'm happy that I won the match. It was not so easy. The [breezy] conditions were, like, also a little bit difficult today."

Next she'll play Kristyna Pliskova in Friday's third round, but said she was not concerned about already playing two three-set matches. "I think I'm fit. I am prepared for playing, like, two, three ours, so that's not a problem. Tomorrow I have a day off, so it's not a big deal," Kerber said.

No. 11 Elina Svitolina had a 6-4, 6-1 win over U.S. qualifier Julia Boserup to advance to a third-round match against No. 24 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over fellow Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva.

In another match, Alison Riske beat No. 20 Zhang Shuai 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-1.