On January 18, Beijing time, the first round of the Australian Open continued. In a women's singles matchup, the 16th seed Kerber played against world Number 115 Canepi. The two sides have met a total of 4 times before, and both sides have won 2 victories each. Today's match Canepi performed even better, she defeated Grand Slam treble treble Kerber in two consecutive sets to reach the second round of the Australian Open women's singles.
Both sides saved their own serves in the first three sets, with Kanepi taking the lead in the fourth set to take a 3-1 lead. In the 7th inning, Kerber broke the opponent's serve and then she saved the serve to make it 4-4. In the 10th set, Kerber was broken in a set that had to be saved, and Canepi won the first set 6-4.
In the second set, Kerber took the lead in the 5th set, but then Canepi quickly broke back in the 6th set. In the 8th set, Canepi completed a key break in the Kerber serve and came to win the set 5-3. The crucial 9th innings, Canepi defused the break point to save serve and win the second set 6-3.
In the end, in a match that took 1 hour and 20 minutes, The World No. 115 Kanepi defeated former champion Kerber 6-4, 6-3 to reach the second round of the Australian Open. Kerber was upset on his birthday and stopped the first round of the Australian Open for two consecutive years. In the next round, Kanepi's opponent is World No. 86 Bauzkova, who swept qualifier Marino to advance.