A rusty Angelique Kerber has suffered a worrying stumble ahead of her Australian Open defence with a quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina at the Brisbane International.
The German world No.1 only showed glimpses of her best, often when under pressure, as she succumbed to Svitolina 6-4 3-6 6-3 at Pat Rafter Arena on Thursday night.
Kerber was expected to roll on and set up a US Open final rematch with Karolina Pliskova when she dominated the second set but the Ukrainian sixth seed lifted her game superbly in the clutch moments.
In a thrilling final set, world No.14 Svitolina came from a break down to win five of the last six games to progress through to the semifinal against Pliskova on Friday night.
“I’m happy that I played good match, very solid performance,” Svitolina said. “I think Angie was playing good in the third set, so it was very, very tough to stay in the moment.
Kerber had hoped to go one better than last year in Brisbane where she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final.
But Svitolina, who beat Serena Williams at the Rio Olympics as well as Kerber in their last encounter in Beijing, showed from the outset the dual grand slam winner would not have an easy night.
“I think it’s a little bit my experience, maybe just a small one from the matches I played Serena, so I finished very strong mentally, and against Angie in Beijing,” Svitolina said.
“And also, second round, it was very tough against Shelby (Rogers), and she was playing really good, and I think I came with a very solid performance.
“So these kind of matches, second round and tonight, shows that mentally I’m there and I’m fighting for every ball. It’s very important for me to understand that.”
Kerber struggled on serve 24 hours earlier against local wildcard Ash Barty and again battled with her accuracy but stepped up after losing the first set.
She had the momentum going into the final set and it would be a concern ahead of the Australian Open that she couldn’t contain the Ukrainian who lifted brilliantly in an imperious finish.
Kerber denied the loss would affect her preparations or confidence for Melbourne Park as grand slams were “completely different”.
“It was still a good match for both of us,” she said. “We really played at a high level tonight.
“I’m happy with my start (to the year). Of course I’m obviously disappointed with how I lost in the quarters.
“(But) I can take the positives out of the tournament.”