Retribution for Kerber ... Sort Of

The expectations for Angelique Kerber were so low this year after her number one ranking fell apart and she fell to the 20s in the rankings, that her reaching the quarterfinals looks like retribution.

But then again, you have to truly have had a terrible year for there to be retribution. And Kerber's 2017 wasn't as disastrous as most would have you believe. It just didn't come close to measuring up to her phenomenal 2016, where she won the Australian and U.S. Open and reached the finals of Wimbledon.

Last year she made it to the 4th round of the Australian--not too awful. She also made it to the Round of 16 at Wimbledon where she lost to Garbine Muguruza, who won the tournament. Her first round loss at the French Open was to Ekaterina Makarova, who has been as high as 8 in the world. Her best showing at the French--the quarterfinals in 2012--is a little puzzling, since it seems her game would be well-suited for the clay. In any event, her first round loss at the U.S. Open was to up-and-comer and this year's Aussie Round of 16 player, Naomi Osaka, who could become a future star. So the cries of Kerber being washed up were premature.

Now her reward for getting to the quarters is a match-up with Madison Keys, who has the real makings of a star if she can develop the nerves of a champion. Kerber's had a much tougher draw so far than Keys has had though, defeating Sharapova and Hsieh Su Wei along the way. Should be a great match! My money's on Keys though, despite her easier draw. She has the shot-making ability and youth on her side--22 years to Kerber's 30. Kerber may have run out of gas with the long matches she's had thus far to get to this year's quarters. But hats off to her for getting this far in this year's tournament.

And who knows, maybe she'll defy my expectations or Keys won't live up to her potential and Kerber will wind up advancing much further. This tournament is anyone's to take!