Potapova defeats Kerber in the 1st round of the French Open

Potapova downs Kerber to clash against each other Marketa Vondrousova in the 2nd roundPotapova downs Kerber to clash against Marketa Vondrousova in the 2nd round

Alex Boyden

27 May 2019

18-year-old Anastasia Potapova bests Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-2 in the 1^st round in Paris on Sunday.

The Match

Potapova had a great start of the match after she conquered a 2-0 lead. However, only after trading a total of 5 breaks she won the opening set 6-4.

Anastasia started pretty well also in the second set with a strong 4-0 lead. Kerber then tried to fight back (4-2). but then was too late and the Russian won the encounter 6-4 6-2 in just 73 minutes.

Anastasia served extremely well to win 82% of the points 23/28 behind her first serve. Nevertheless, she won only 31% points 9/29 on her second serve.

The Russian was good at converting 60% of the break points that she conquered (6/10).

After this encounter, the head to head between Potapova and Kerber is 1-0 for Anastasia.

What Anastasia Potapova said

After the match, Potapova revealed

“My phone is exploding now. I really appreciate it. It’s nice to hear congratulations from great people.

I was trying to keep some focus on me, on myself, how I’m playing, how I’m running. I wasn’t trying to think a lot about the court, about the first round, about Kerber, because of course she’s a great player. But, you know, I’m here to play my best. That’s what I did.

I was really looking forward for this match because I like Kerber’s game a lot. She’s actually one of my idols, and when I was young looked at her game and how she was playing. When you step in on the court and you know you play your idol, you’ve just got to show your best.”

Prediction and head to head Anastasia Potapova vs. Marketa Vondrousova

Anastasia will face Marketa Vondrousova in the second round.

This will be the 2^nd time that Anastasia Potapova and Marketa Vondrousova face off. The head to head is 1-0 for Vondrousova (see full H2H stats), but they have never competed against each other on clay.

The last time that they squared off, Vondrousova won 6-0 6-2 in the semifinal in Budapest back in February 2019.