Gavrilova beats Kerber in Hong Kong QF

Australian tennis player Daria Gavrilova has sent world No.1 Angelique Kerber crashing out of the quarter-finals at the Hong Kong tennis open on Friday 6-3 6-1.

Kerber was handed her exit in 73 minutes of mistake-laden tennis, with the German occasionally scraping her racquet on the court in moments of frustration.

Gavrilova finished off her win at Victoria Park on the first of three match points as she fired a service winner which Kerber could not handle.

“I was not playing my best tennis, I know I can play better,” Kerber, who admitted she felt some discomfort in a shoulder, said. “It’s a long season and we play a lot of matches.

“I felt the shoulder but it’s not a excuse. I was not serving my best. I had a lot more double-faults than is normal for my game.”

Victory was the first in six meetings for Russian-born Australian eighth seed Gavrilova, who lost to Kerber last June in Birmingham on grass in their last meeting.

Gavrilova will compete in her first WTA semi-final since May, 2015, in Rome when she faces the winner from American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Kristina Mladenovic of France.

Kerber now turns her focus to the year-end championships starting in Singapore in just over a week.

“I need a few days off, I’m tired and I need a lot of treatment to get ready for the next one,” she said of the eight-woman season-ender.

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