BRISBANE, Australia: The Brisbane International lost its top two women’s seeds Thursday when Angelique Kerber and Dominika Cibulkova were both bundled out in the quarter-finals of the season-opening tournament.
World number one Kerber made 48 unforced errors, including five double faults, as she went down to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while Frenchwoman Alize Cornet eliminated Cibulkova 6-3, 7-5.
Kerber started slowly against Svitolina, who broke the German early and held the advantage to take the opening set.
Kerber struck back in the second and appeared to take command of the match when she broke Svitolina at the start of the third.
However, the sixth seeded Ukranian broke back to level the set, then broke again to move to 5-3, holding comfortably to claim her fourth win against Kerber in nine meetings.
Kerber said she wasn’t worried about how the early loss would affect the defence of her Australian Open crown.
