Ana Ivanovic hunts down Andrea Petkovic in the opener – Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2013
Former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, displayed her vintage class once again to dispose of the German tennis ace, Andrea Petkovic, in the opening round of Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Tuesday. The world number 17 took one hour
and 12 minutes to wrap up her victory over the former top-tenner in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
Unseeded in the tournament draw, Ivanovic had been victorious against Petkovic in their last encounter at Linz, Austria, in 2012. She carried on with her winning ways reach 3-1 lead in the all-time head-to-head series against the
German veteran.
Petkovic is still recovering from her multiple injuries and Tuesday’s match clearly showed the German not playing to her best. The 25-year-old was beaten in every segment of the game and couldn’t do anything to halt the onslaught
from her Serbian opponent. Petkovic could win merely five games in the entire matchup, succumbing in the second set completely to fall out of the tournament in dismay.
The opening set witnessed an early exchange of serve breaks in the third and fourth games and the score line got tied at 2-2. Petkovic’s game suffered a sudden slump and she gifted away a break point to Ivanovic in the sixth game.
The Serbian beauty capitalised on the vital opportunity and raced away to a 5-3 lead later in the set. She didn’t lose her serve and comprehensively served out of the first set at 5-3.
Winning the opening set gave Ivanovic immense confidence and she came out roaring the following set. The 25-year-old Serb nailed two successive break points right away and imposed a commanding 4-0 lead over the home favourite opponent.
Petkovic couldn’t recover from the early damage done by the serve breaks and kept lingering in the contest. Ivanovic held all her serve games convincingly and finished off the proceedings at 6-2 to reach the pre-quarter-final round of the tournament in style.
Ivanovic has to face the eighth seeded Russian veteran, Nadia Petrova, in the second round of Porsche Tennis Grand Prix later this week. Petrova was successful against the other German qualifier, Dinah Pfizenmaier, 7-6(2), 6-4,
in the opening round.
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