Caroline Wozniacki defeats Andrea Petkovic; cruises into the semis of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Top seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki eased past German Andrea Petkovic with a breadstick on Thursday. She registered a 6-4, 6-1 victory over the 23-year-old German in the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
The World number one Wozniacki made an epic comeback from trailing 1-4 in the opening set to eventually trash the German in straight sets at Porsche Arena. The Dane recently lost to Petkovic at Miami Masters 1000 event but she
took her revenge here at Stuttgart and levelled their head-to-head series by 1-1.
Wozniacki is in top form this season as she displayed flawless performance at Dubai, Indian Wells and Charleston where she won the title. She also made a final berth at Doha. The Dane stormed into this WTA Premier event and trashed
Slovakian lucky loser, Zuzana Kucova in her opening match. Later she downed Petkovic in one hour and thirty-five minutes and booked her spot in the semi-finals.
The seed was shaky in the opening set and lost her serve in the very first game. She then trailed 1-4 in just 21 minutes when she lost her serve in the fifth game.
"It was tough for me to come back in the first set," admitted Wozniacki, who then re-focused and got back on track. She broke back in the following game and reeled off five games in a row to clinch the set with a 6-4 win.
The 20-year-old perfected her momentum into the second set as she unleashed her flurry of groundstrokes to win the first five games in a row. She then earned a breadstick by keeping her serve in the seventh game plausibly.
Wozniacki played consistent games at corners of the court and moved Petkovic around it. She then drove strong volleys to take twelve games out of the last thirteen played. Although the Dane produced a lower first serve share of
71 percent as compared to the German’s 77 percent, she registered an impressive 68 percent win on it. Wozniacki saved four out of six breakpoints she faced and converted five out of nine breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to earn a straight set victory.
"I feel very good at the moment, my volleys were working really well, which they haven't always done, and I played some good shots," the beaming Wozniacki said.
She will now play Polish Agnieszka Radwanska on Saturday. The 22-year-old dumped the German wild card Kirstina Barrois in two hours to reach this spot.
Fifth seed, Australian Samantha Stosur also advanced by upsetting second seed, Russian Vera Zvonareva by 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) mouth watering match in two hours and thirty-eight minutes.
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