Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Angelique Kerber, Ozeki


Angelique Kerber became the 35th female Ozeki of the open era  by reaching the semifinals at the 2016 Wimbledon Tournament. Together with the Australian Open title Kerber won earlier this year, this suffices to jump the "great hurdle" (this is what "Ozeki" means literally in Japanese) to Ozeki (the Ozeki list will be updated once the Wimbledon tournament is over).

Kerber's success was her quarterfinal opponent's loss: Simona Halep, the 34th female Ozeki, misses out on an immediate re-promotion and thus settles, for now, at Sekiwake (=Junior Champion I). 

Elsewhere, Venus Williams re-activated her active Yokozuna (=Grand Champion) status for at least a year, by reaching the first grand slam semifinal in almost 6 years.

In the men's tournament, long-standing Ozeki Andy Murray is still on a Yokozuna run. His fellow Ozeki Stan Wawrinka though lost early - against Juan Martin del Potro, an ex-Ozeki himself on the comeback trail - and goes kadoban (is at risk of demotion at the US Open). 

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