DPA
Paris
Former world number one Angelique Kerber delayed her retirement from tennis again when she outlasted Romanian Jacqueline Cristian 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
Urged on by fans chanting her name, the three-time grand slam champion from Germany prevailed after 2 hours 16 minutes in sweltering mid-day heat at Roland Garros on a third match point.
Kerber, 36, who returned in January from maternity leave, said last week that she will end her career after the Olympics, where she will also play doubles with Laura Siegemund.
She won a duel of former world number one players and grand slam champions against Naomi Osaka in the first round, and then also prevailed in a tense duel with 57th-ranked Cristian.
In the last 16, Kerber faces Canadian 16 seed Leylah Fernandez, who ousted Spain’s Cristina Bucsa, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
“This feeling I will miss. That’s why I came back. Because of these feelings, these emotions, this atmosphere on the court,” she said.
“After the match, when the fans and the crowd are cheering, of course, you will miss it. This is why I’m here and why we are practising so hard to show the best tennis. And then, of course, having all the support from the fans around the world.
“I can still do it,” she said, labelling the hard-earned success “a relief.”
But Kerber insisted that she would not reconsider her retirement plan, saying: “The decision stands. I know that I can still play unbelievably well but you have to make a decision at some stage.
“It is very tough for me and I am fighting the emotions every day. I am trying to stay tough.”
Kerber won the first set with a service winner after breaking Cristian in the fifth game but the Romanian won 11 points in a row to go 4-1 up in the second en route to forcing a deciding set.
Cristian seemed on course when she broke again in the opening game but Kerber bounced right back. The German saved three break points to go 2-1 up and then broke the shocked Cristian for 3-1.
