Wimbledon 2013 Day 5: Kanepi slays Kerber

I watched a superb Kanepi comeback on Court 2

Wimbledon 2013 Day 5: Kanepi slays Kerber

I spent a rain interrupted of fifth day with my wonderful Aunt on Court 2 so I'm going to lead with the terrific match we saw between 2012 semi-finalist Angelique Kerber and 2010 quarter finalist Kaia Kanepi.

The statuesque Estonian - who has certainly lost weight since the unflattering picture they showed on the scoreboard - began wonderfully by racing into an initial 3-0 lead and had chances to go further ahead. 

That was when No.7 seed Kerber displayed her customary defensive skills and the German counter-puncher reeled off six straight games to take the opener and then had two chances for 4-2 in the second.

More after the jump..

Former World No.15 Kanepi held on and held a break point to lead 5-4 but could not get enough on a high backhand.  The set went to a tie-break and it looked all over when Kerber cruised ahead 5-1.

Calm under pressure - Kanepi was impressive on Court 2

However Kanepi has a wonderful sense of calm about her as a player - I was also court side for her round one victory over Tara Moore - and cool as a cucumber on the brink of defeat she won five consecutive points to set up set point.

Kerber saved the first with a super body serve but Kanepi took the next two points to level the match. 

Having been so close to defeat Kanepi now had the momentum and Kerber carried major mental baggage into the third.

Kanepi roared into a 5-1 lead in the decider before double faulting on match point and getting broken as Kerber closed to 5-3.

Serving for the match a second time Kanepi double faulted on a second match point but converted her third for an excellent 3-6 7-6(8-6) 6-3 victory over the World No.7.

Kanepi is a potential fourth round opponent for British No.1 Laura Robson who won her first singles on Centre Court with a 6-4 6-1 defeat of Colombian qualifier Mariana Duque-Marino.

Two potential big threats in the bottom half of the draw Petra Kvitova and Sloane Stephens were both in a pickle as bad light stopped play. 

2011 champion Kvitova lost eight straight games to fellow lefty for Ekaterina Makarova before battling to hold serve in the final game to trail 6-3 2-6 1-2 overnight.  Stephens was bageled in the second set by Petra Cetkowska and will start again at a set all on Saturday.

There were day five wins for 2007 finalist Marion Bartoli - who I also watched and as ever she was dancing to the beat of her own drum - Flavia Pennetta, Kirsten Flipkens, Carla Suarez Navarro and Karin Knapp who saw off Sharapova's conqueror Michelle Larcher de Brito.

In the Men's draw another sudden star from Wacky Wednesday Sergiy Stakhovsky was sent packing as the Ukrainian could not reproduce the form that saw off Roger Federer and went down in four sets to former World No.8 Jurgen Melzer.

The lone remaining big gun in the bottom moved through with US Open and Olympic Champ Andy Murray impressed on Centre Court with a fairly straightforward 6-2 6-4 7-5 win over Tommy Robredo.

The possible dangerman for Murray appears to be Jerzy Janowicz as the giant Pole won in straight sets against 15th seed Nicolas Almagro on his Centre Court debut.  The 24th seed tees off on every shot - while mixing in a few choice drop shots - and could be a real threat.

Lots of great looking contests on tap at SW19 for day six as the final last 16 places will be snapped up.

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