Andrea Petkovic outlasts Annika Beck to reach semis – Nurnberger Versicherungscup 2013
Former world number nine, Andrea Petkovic, stunned her eighth seeded countrywoman, Annika Beck, in a three-set thriller at the Nurnberger Versicherungscup 2013 on Thursday.
She won 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 against the 19-year-old to secure a spot in the final four at this clay court tournament held in Nurnberg, Germany.
The local wild card entrant, Petkovic showed flashes of her old form to outsmart Beck in their first meeting. She required two and half hours to progress into her first semi-finals of this season.
The German veteran commented in a courtside interview after earning the limelight, “Annika played a really great match. She was moving incredibly well and playing really deep balls. In the beginning I just didn't have any energy in my legs to spin the ball
and I was missing a lot of balls. I was very frustrated, but thankfully I found my rhythm by the end of the third set and was able to pull through.”
The world number 56, Beck made a dismal entry at this WTA International level tournament. She suffered the first blow in the second game and trailed at 0-2. The higher ranked German managed to snatch her break back but lost her track again to go 1-3 down.
However, she not only recovered in the very next game but got the breakthrough in the ninth game to pull out the opener with a 6-4 score line.
Petkovic re-focused her strategy in the following set. She suffered the initial loss by losing her serve in the fifth game. However, the lower ranked German went berserk and wiped out last four games. As a result, she managed to grab the equaliser by winning
six games to three.
In the deciding set, Petkovic lost her opening serve and went 0-2 down. She recovered in the proceeding game and exchanged another break of serve to keep the scores level. The world number 103 continued hitting angled shots until she got the breakthrough
in the second last game, subsequently clicking the decider with a 7-5 win.
The wild card enterer had won eight straight matches including the ITF’s Women’s Circuit title in Marseille.
Petkovic reflected in the post match presser, “I think the most important thing for tomorrow is to recover after all the matches that I've had in the last 10 days. It's going to be a tough one, but I'm going to try to be as ready as possible.”
Next in line for Petkovic is the former world number one, Jelena Jankovic. The top seed crushed Lourdes Dominguez Lino with a bagel to set-up this epic battle. The German currently leads 3-2 in the head-to-head series against the Serbian ace.
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