Can Kerber keep up with the world number four?
After a completely used start to the WTA Tour 2022 so far, Angelique Kerber is slowly but surely getting back on track at the start of the Sunshine Doubles at the BNP Paribas Open 2022 in Indian Wells. With two wins, the German punched her ticket to the round of 16, where she will now clash with an in-form Iga Swiatek.
The Pole won the Qatar TotalEnergies Open before the WTA 1000 event and already celebrated her first singles title in 2022. Even before that, the 20-year-old stormed into the semifinals of the Australian Open 2022. Accordingly, in the run-up to the duel between Iga Swiatek and Angelique Kerber, the odds are swinging in favor of the Pole.
The former German world number one should not be written off too hastily. Nevertheless, it would be a bit of a surprise if the in-form Pole didn’t make short work of the 34-year-old. We therefore see the greatest value in Iga Swiatek against Angelique Kerber in a short match with a maximum of 19 games.
Iga Swiatek – statistics & current form
Current ranking in the world: 4.
Position in the seedings: 3rd
The 20-year-old Polish Iga Swiatek has already achieved several milestones in her still young career. In 2020, she secured the overall victory at the French Open. In addition, there are two overall victories in tournaments from the WTA 1000 category.
First, the lady with the aggressive baseline strokes won the Italian Open 2021 in Rome, before securing the Qatar TotalEnergies Open 2022 just two weeks ago. With the exception of the opening match, Swiatek did not drop a single set en route to the title.
Won 16 of the 19 singles in 2022
With her two wins at the BNP Paribas Open, in which she lost the first set in each case but then dropped virtually no games in sets two and three, Iga Swiatek is now already on 16 wins from 19 completed singles in the 2022 calendar year.
The fourth-ranked player in the world was also able to prove once again that she can do more than just play on clay. She already reached the semifinals of the Australian Open 2022 at the hard-court Grand Slam at the beginning of the year.
Sure serve and strong on returns
The young Pole’s taking qualities are particularly striking, as she converted a staggering 49.6% of all returns into a point win in the entire year of 2022. If her opponent had to come over the second serve, Swiatek even scored in 58.9% of all cases.
And because she also serves well (the Pole won 71.9% of all service games in 2022), she is the clear favorite going into the round of 16.
Angelique Kerber – statistics & current form
Current ranking in the world: 16th
Position in the seedings: 15th
The 34-year-old German Angelique Kerber has had a complicated couple of years. After her sensational 2016, in which she reached three Grand Slam finals as well as the final of the WTA Finals and was also able to win two of those four titles, she did go through a weak phase once.
At the latest with the overall victory at the Wimbledon Championships in 2018, the Kiel native was once again a force to be reckoned with, but since then she has only won a single singles title on the WTA Tour – an overall victory at the small WTA 250 tournament in Bad Homburg in 2021.
Balanced year by reaching the round of 16
After an infection severely disrupted the Germans’ preparation, their start to the 2022 season was also decidedly bumpy.
She failed directly in her opening match at both the 2022 Australian Open and the Qatar TotalEnergies Open.
Accordingly, Angelique Kerber traveled to the BNP Paribas Open with a record of 0-2 on the year, where she advanced to the final in 2019 and also reached the quarterfinals last year. And it’s here that she should be able to turn things around for the time being, as her record for the year is once again even after wins over Zheng Qinwen and Daria Kasatkina.
67.6% of all matches won in Indian Wells
In general, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden is an incredibly good place for the 34-year-old. At no other active or former WTA 1000 tournament does the former world number one have such a high win rate – 67.6% (23 wins from 34 matches).
And yet, Iga Swiatek’s betting on her making it to the quarterfinals again against Angelique Kerber is not under a good star. After all, the German is now up against an opponent with an incredibly strong game, who is also much more consistent than the Kieler, who can be a bit disjointed at times.
Iga Swiatek – Angelique Kerber Direct comparison / H2H record
Head to head: 0:0
Never before have the two ladies faced each other in a ranked singles match. Accordingly, there is no “head to head” data available that could influence the forecast in the case of Iga Swiatek vs. Angelique Kerber
Iga Swiatek – Angelique Kerber Tip
Much speaks for the young Pole in this generational duel between a potential future world number one and the aging three-time Grand Slam winner from Germany. After all, Iga Swiatek has won 16 of her 19 singles matches in 2022 and impresses with her solid serve and above-average returns. Overall, the 20-year-old has celebrated seven wins in a row and goes into this round of 16 in good form.
On the other side of the draw is Angelique Kerber, who won a singles match in Indian Wells for the first time in her third tournament in 2022 and previously failed to reach the first round of both the Australian Open and the Qatar TotalEnergies Open.
Accordingly, there is a lot of value in betting that the Pole can pull off a relatively easy win over the former German world number one. The bet on under 19.5 games also covers the scenario in which Angie comes up big and takes a two-set win
