Andrea Petkovic ousts Virginie Razzano in the 3rd round – Mercury Insurance Open 2011
Meeting for the first time, the German, Andrea Petkovic competed against the French, Virgine Razzano in the third round of the Mercury Open on the 4th of August 2011. They played against each other on hard courts at
the La Costa Resort and Spa, Carlsbad, California. The German (Petkovic) had won the first set 6-2, 3-0 but in the second set the French (Razzano) retired and hence, threw the gauntlet.
During the first set both the players committed a double fault each, however, Petkovic had aced once amidst the set, while, her opponent hadn’t. Although, Razano’s serve was an average forty one percent in the set, her return game
was appalling and she was not able to return most of her opponent’s shots and barely attained twenty nine percent of her total return points. Additionally, her defence gave in and she was only capable of saving one break point out of the four, she managed
to break her opponent once.
On the contrary, the German had a superb serve and bagged a win of seventy one percent in the total service points during the set, she had a return game that was commendable; like a wall at the end of the court she re-bounded
most of her opponent’s shots. Her defence was sturdy and did not slip and although, Petkovic failed to save the only breaking point opportunity she had given to her opponent, she was able to clench seventy five percent of her break points. Hence, Razzano was
only able to win two game points in the total set and lost the set 6-2.
After the first set Razzano’s shoulder was hurting and although she played the second set, she called for medical assistance while playing. Even though she wanted to continue playing, she eventually retired after losing the first
two games due to an aching shoulder that had taken over her serving skills and technique.
Across the board, Petkovic was a better player than her adversary Razzano and the German won the match with 6-3, 3-0 taking the lead 2-0 into the next round.
The 19-year-old Christina McHale has seen many ups and downs throughout her career; however her career high ranking was world number 65 which she achieved on the 25th of July 2011. Her most notable performance this year
was when she defeated world no. 38 Ekaterina Makarova in the first round at Wimbledon Championships 2011 but lost in the second.
The world number 11, German Andrea Petkovic will be facing the American Sloane Stephens in the quarter-final of the Mercury Insurance Open 2011.
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