Victoria Azarenka ousts Andrea Petkovic to reach the quarter-finals - Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2012
World number one, Victoria Azarenka, started her clay court campaign with a pre-mature win over the German tennis ace, Andrea Petkovic, who twisted her ankle during the second set and pulled out of the contest before it official
ended. The scores at that time were 6-2, 4-4 in favour of the Belarusian who had been battling at the foreign soil for 92 minutes. She has moved into the quarter-final stage of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and faces the booming upset specialist, Mona Barthel,
of Germany.
It was the second face-off between the two players who had played each other in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow way back in 2010. At that time, Azarenka was the second seed contestant and she bagged a gruelling three-setter to get off
the mark against the German.
However, the scenario was different this time around and the ending was disappointing. In an interview after her medical check-up, the 12th ranked German stated, "My ankle swelled up as soon as I twisted it. I don't
know how bad it is at the moment, but we are checking the ligaments for any damage. Right now I'm just icing it and then tomorrow I will have an MRI and a CT."
She further added, “Just as I was beginning to find my rhythm and my strength again, I rolled my ankle. It's definitely unlucky, but I'll be back again." Azarenka also passed her concern for the German in a post-match interview
stating, “I feel really bad for Andrea. I hope she recovers and we see her back on the court soon. This was my first match on clay so I wasn't looking for perfection out there.”
In the opening set, Petkovic lost serve in the first game but fought back to level the scores at 2-2. However, an immediate outbreak from the Belarusian reinstated her lead in the fifth game and a thumping serve hold further consolidated
her position to 4-2. The local failed to make any sort of impact and dropped another serve game gifting a marvellous opportunity for the Belarusian to take control of the match that was accepted without any regrets.
The second set witnessed a swap of breakpoints before the Belarusian tennis ace broke serve in the fifth game to take a lead of 3-2. However, a cameo from the German brought her back into the game and levelled the scores at 4-4.
Unfortunately, she twisted her ankle and was ruled out of the competition afterwards.
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