Andrea Petkovic’s comeback ends in short time at New Haven Open – Tennis News
Former world number nine, Andrea Petkovic’s comeback voyage didn’t last too long and she got dumped in the second round of the New Haven Open on Wednesday. The current world number 43 received a hard thumping from the Slovakian
number one, Dominika Cibulkova, ending at 4-6, 1-6, in barely 70 minutes at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.
A lot more was expected from the 24-year-old German on her return to the professional circuit after a long injury lay-off but all hopes were flushed down after her terrible loss to Cibulkova. It was merely the fourth tournament
for Petkovic in the current season and she was forced to be sidelined from the professional circuit after her terrible ankle injury.
The German tennis ace was clearly found out of touch in the match and coughed huge number of unforced errors to assist her opponent to victory. Petkovic missed out some of the easiest strokes a plenty of times in the contest, clearly
showing her rusty game play and was never seen in command at any instance. She dropped her serve seven out of 12 times in the match and could reply with merely three serve breaks to finish on the losing side in the end.
"I'd play three or four good shots then miss horrible shots I'd never miss in a hundred years," Petkovic said. "My strokes and movement are just fine, but you can never simulate a match in practice, so when the stress of a match
comes I feel like it's a totally new situation. And I've basically been out for eight months, so really the inconsistency in rallies and matches is the price I'm paying. I just have to stay positive. It's going to take time to get back to my best."
Petkovic was extremely disappointed on her performance against the Slovakian opponent but is determined to avenge her defeat in the upcoming Grand Slam event, the US Open. Cibulkova will carry on her journey in the quarter-final
round and will meet the former world number one, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, to fight for a place in the semis of the WTA Premier-level event.
Certainly it will take some time for Petkovic to get back her vintage form and break into the Top-10 once again. She now has a 5-5 winning record for the year but she will surely improve her stats before the conclusion of the 2012
WTA season.
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