Petra Martic unwillingly retires to gift Su-Wei Hsieh her maiden WTA title – Malaysian Open 2012
Croatian tennis ace, Petra Martic, unwillingly pulled out of the final contest on Sunday against the Taiwanese qualifier, Su-Wei Hsieh, in the BMW Malaysian Open. She couldn’t deal with the fatigue and retired at the scores of
6-2, 5-7, 1-4. The match had already lasted an hour and 45 minutes.
The most surprising triumph for her was the three-setter semi-final that drained her stamina completely. She dumped the former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, to book a date with the Taiwanese contestant.
Half of the semi-final match was played on Saturday but rained interrupted the contest and the remaining contest was played the next day. It was a bit harsh on the Croatian but the officials were restricted to end the tournament
on Sunday so she technically had to contest two matches on the same day.
It was an aggressive start to the match at both ends, with Martic getting the better of her opponent in the third game and registering the first breakthrough of the match. It was not long before the Croatian tennis icon scuttled
past her opponent with a lead of four games with scores moving on to 5-1. Hsieh could hardly settle in the atmosphere but her opponent was already running away with a show and lead of one set.
The second set was cruel on the fifth seed. She was leading with scores of 4-3 when she fell apart during the rally and lost a crucial point on her serve game. The qualifier took full advantage of the situation and gobbled up her
first breakthrough with scores tied at 4-4. It was definitely the turning point in the set and Martic lost another breakpoint in the 12th game that pulled curtains for her.
She had already played double the time of the match and was completely tired at the end of the second set. Nothing was going right for her and her opponent was took advantage of that situation; broke her serve in the fourth game
with a couple of clever drop shots. It was the time when the Croatian said goodbye to the contest and left the arena with some agony and despair. She definitely deserved rest after the end of the semi-final contest but these things are a part of life.
Whytcross stated on the condition of Martic, “She is not injured and just needs a bit of rest. She had a big day today, playing nearly five hours of tennis and is completely exhausted." On the other hand, Hsieh won her maiden title
of her Women Tennis Association career and look to build upon that triumph.
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