RG - Angie def Barthel 6-2, 6-3.

Did you see the match? Well, if one of you find a link for a highlight, let me know because i couldn't find any.

I did see the match. Lucky me, it was on my lunch time and i could find a stream to watch it.  I felt she was a bit anxious to start the match.  It might have been normal because i am sure she wanted to do better then the past two years.  There was no expectation, at least, the media doesn't.  I am sure she believe it.

Barthel did a lot of mistakes but when it was necessary, Angelique was solid.  Nothing extraordinary, and at some points, it was going too fast for Barthel.  It was 6-2, 5-0, Angie serving, and it took her not 2 nor 3 trials to close this, but 4.  It was probably a mixed of Barthel trying to upgrade her game, and a little bit of nervosity: after all, it was about to be her first win since 2015 in RG.  We've seen some great thing here and there from Angie,  and when the points were lasting, she was usually the one winning. It was easier then it was supposed to, but it was a complicated end.  Against a more consistant opponent, maybe the story would have been different, but she manage to close it out and she is happy to be in the second round.

See below and part of the after match press conference.  Tje journalist have weird questions, I was not sure to post it, but i just enjoy hearing her, she seems calm and serene.

Practicing with Carla

Today, Angie was practicing on court 3 with Carla Suarez Navarro who had been playing some very good tennis lately.  

RG prep - Practice makes perfect

Angie was down on court this morning practicing some more, getting use to the court and this time her sessions was nos disturbed by rain.

Wim Fissette about Kerber

French Open 2018 countdown: Wim Fissette tells wtatennis.com about Angelique Kerber's improvement this season and her goals for Roland Garros and beyond.

"Fresh in the head" is how Angelique Kerber's coach, Wim Fissette, describes her. That makes a change from last season when the German was so mentally frazzled after just one tournament that she felt as though she needed a holiday.

Going into the busiest time on the tennis calendar - with the French Open starting on Sunday, and Wimbledon following soon afterwards in early July - expect to see a rejuvenated Kerber on the clay and the grass. Having won a couple of Grand Slams in 2016, and having finished that season as the WTA World No.1, she spiralled down the rankings in 2017, even dropping out of the top 20. But, after linking up with Fissette during the off-season, she has been a different player in 2018; as well as that mental freshness, she has rediscovered her love for being on court and playing tennis matches, which she had misplaced last season.

"Angie felt a lot of pressure last year. With all the pressure on her, and also with all the off-court activities as well - because as No.1 you have to do so much more off court - she didn't feel fresh in her head last year. There was too much to do and she couldn't enjoy being on the court and enjoy playing tennis and fighting for every point. She felt a lot of expectations on her as No.1 in the world," Fissette told wtatennis.com.

"So that was difficult, but I feel that now she wants to go on the court and she loves playing tennis. She feels fresh again. After her first tournament last year, she felt as though she needed a holiday, and of course that's not the right feeling to have when you've just started the year. But I feel as though she loves the game a lot right now." 

Fueled by a desire to show others that her career isn't over, Kerber has had some strong results so far in 2018, including winning the Sydney title, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, and making the quarterfinals of last week's clay-court event in Rome.

"Angie learned a lot in the past year. She was extremely motivated when we started working in November. She wanted to show everyone that she could still be a great player and that her career wasn't over. She's still going with that mentality. She's very hungry on the court, she's working really hard and she's very ambitious, even on the clay, which is not easy for her," said Fissette.

Kerber, now ranked 12th, believes she can return to the top. "Her goal is to get back to No.1 again one day, and then do things differently to how she did it last year," Fissette said.

Such is Kerber's love for tennis now, Fissette has to force her to put her racket down for a few days. "Two days without tennis is very difficult for her. We sometimes need to force her to take time away from the court. She loves playing tennis and playing tournaments - she's a competitor and she needs the competition. But she also needs time away from the court to stay mentally open and fresh. That will be important," Fissette said.

"Skipping Madrid because of an injury was a huge decision for her, but in Rome she felt good to have had some time away from the court. She needs to find the right balance. She didn't have the right balance at all last year. She needs to make mistakes to learn. Once in a while it's good to take a step back and not play a tournament, and to use that opportunity to rest and train - and then only play tournaments when you feel as though you are physically ready to maybe win it."

On her last two visits to the French Open, Kerber didn't win a match. But perhaps this year she can put a run together.

"Angie didn't start the clay-court season with much confidence - she didn't win a match on clay last year. I was very pleased with the last week in Rome, where she had four matches and played better with every match. She was playing the game she needs to play if she's going to be successful on clay," Fissette said.

"When she was young, she practised on carpet, so she feels a lot more comfortable on grass than on the clay. Her grip is a bit more classic so higher contact is difficult for her. But everything is about finding solutions, and adjusting her game to avoid the higher contacts, which she can do through working on her movement."

RG prep

While the qualification rounds are on going, Angelique is already in Paris, practicing.  However, it didn't last really long as it started to rain after 30 minutes.

Internazionali BNL d'Italia- Angie ...

Lost to Svitolina.  The match had begun so well, she was leading 4-2 with the break and the serve, and then, suddenly, momentum switched even thought it was Angie dictating most of the point, Svitolina went away with the first set 6-3.   Of course, credit to Svitolina to have done to Angie was she usually does to other, but darn, she certainly knows how to get into Angie's head.   If Angie's backhand was regular, a few unforced errors on her forehand, which wasn't as consistant then the past few days,  was certainly really costly and her % of first serve in was so low that she had to fight on every point.

I was so certain it was her turn to defeat her.  Well, if you ask me, i rather Angie let this one go, and beat her in a slam, for instance.  well, not that she let it go, but you know what i mean.

This said, overall, i think it was a good week of tennis on Clay for Angie.  She still working in her serve, and it is obvious that she is between two different things, her forehand was a destroying weapon, but could also be unconsistant at times, which is costier against bigger players.  Add a higher % of first serve in, and a more constant forehand, the rest of the world is in trouble. :)

Internazionali BNL d'Italia - Angie def. Sakkari 6-1, 6-1

Do you think the Greek was a little shaken of the way her match against Pliskova ended yesterday? I don't know, but I've seen her reaction and she was really surprised to see her opponent smashed her raquet against the empire chair chair.

One thing for sure, Angie didn't had the same opposition she had against Begu, but she was also playing better, which allow the her to explode more than once on her forehand side with many winners.  She kept her game clean, and even thought she did some unforced errors here and there, Sakarri wasn't just taking advantage of this few little point Angie was given her.  And even if she was trying, Angie was always closing the door.

Angie moved on the her first quarter final in Rome since 2012 to face her #1 nemesis of lately, Elina Svitolina.  Svitolina has a 7-5 record against Angie, having won the last 5 encounters between them. My little finger says, average favor Angie.  However, the key to the match for our favorite is to start strong, be consistant and stay intense and keep believing no matter what!  With a game plan she well established this week, it is going to be a very insteresting match for sure and it won't be a gimme for either of the player, could go either way. Her forehand and speed is a high avantage in this match, and it will be very important for Angie to serve well.

Angie shouldn't have additional pressure as she is just trying to do her best following a break due to a tight injury and Svitolina certainly want to go a step further as she is the defending champ. 

“Today I was really feeling better and better - I wouldn’t say great, but better and better,” Kerber said afterwards. “I feel like I know what to do on court, I know how to play.

“I think in the end you have to know how to make the right decisions on clay especially, to have patience and go for it when you have the chance. It’s a much bigger game mentally.”

“I’m here to play lots of matches, good ones, and especially today I think I was playing really good from the beginning,” Kerber said. “That’s why I decided to come here to play as many matches as I can play here.

“I have another one tomorrow, I hope it goes well like this one.”

Internazionali BNL d'Italia - Angie def Begu 3-6, 7-5, 7-5

When the match begun, we knew it was going to be another hard battle, but believe me or not, I knew Angie would make it through, i didn't know how, but i knew she would.  She was not consistant when she started the match, which is usually her trademark,  but we weren't sure yet on which side the first set would go, as we felt that Begu didn't have her match plan well installed either.  As the set went by, the Romanian found her mark, but Angie had not decided yet to let go of her plan A to move on to her usually very effective plan B, which is run, return all the balls in and wait for the opening - and as the way it looked then, openings wouldn't present themselves often so we felt she was trying to create them.

Botton line, with too many unforced errors, Angie dropped the first one 6-3.  The second set started much better, how better? Angie was more consistant and shows more intensity but she had an opponent on the other side that just refused to give in.   She took the lead first, and kept it, not always in the finest way but she did it until a few unforced errors gave an opportunity for Begu to break her serve when serving for the set.  Angie mumbled a little but managed to regroup and broke again to give herself another chance to serve for the set, which she did.   A little bit of the same story in the third set, and it is all about a ridiculously low % of first serve in.  What matter at the end, is that she did find a way to win the match, which allowed us to to see this magnificent double first pumps.

In short, the hightlight video below doesn't make amend how us, fans of Angie, was on the edge of our chair during the entire game, and we did, and we would have stayed behind, no matter the result, we are just immensily happy that she finally made it a step further in Rome, a step she hadn't reached since 2012.