Andrea Petkovic overpowers Nina Bratchikova in the quarter-finals – Royal Indian Open 2012
Finally, some vintage fireworks were witnessed from the German tennis diva, Andrea Petkovic, as she blasted her way past the top seeded Russian rival, Nina Bratchikova, in the quarter-final round of the Royal Indian Open. Playing
the inaugural edition of the WTA Challenger Series event as a sixth seeded wildcard entrant, Petkovic took merely 55 minutes to wrap up the two sets with the most assertive score line of 6-2, 6-0, to reach the semi-finals.
Petkovic has been labouring extremely hard to regain her vintage form since her return to the WTA Tour after her long injury lay-off. She kept making her way to the quarter-final round of the Indian Open in Pune but no one expected
her to devastate the top seeded Russian in such dominating fashion. The 25-year-old German spared barely two games for her superior-ranked opponent in the entire matchup, reeling off a seven-game killing spree en route to victory.
Sixth seeded German contender bettered Bratchikova in every segment of the game and gave her literally no chance to come on the top. Petkovic banged 68 per cent of her first serve on target and brilliantly secured 25 out of 30
points on it. She crafted a total of five break points in the match and converted all of them, whilst Bratchikova squandered her two precious break opportunities to finish on the losing side in the end.
"Sometimes when you play a really tough opponent, something just clicks in your mind and that's what happened today," Petkovic said. "The score looks easy, but against very good players, like Nina, things can change in a minute
and I knew that I cannot afford to relax against her. I was very consistent and really on my top level the whole match - I am very happy the way I played."
Petkovic will have another tough competition in the semi-final draw, as she will go one-on-one against the seventh seeded Ukrainian, Elina Svitolina, for earning a shot at the WTA title. Svitolina has been in a fine form and won
all her initial matches in straight sets to reach the round of four. She posted an injury-victory over the Thai competitor, Luksika KumKhum, in the quarter-finals.
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