After winning her biggest career title last week in Tokyo, 30-year-old Nadia Petrova assured us that big tennis goals are still ahead of her, but the following week she’s ran out of steam against home favorite Li Na at the China Open and lost 6-1 6-2 in the second round, her first loss to the Chinese in their seven meetings. Besides the tough opponent that Li is, fatigue and a slight leg injury took the better of Petrova.
Petrova’s Tokyo final opponent, seed No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska in Beijing, who was defending her title in Tokyo last week and is doing the same this week, advanced to the third round with a 6-2 6-3 win over Zhang Shuai.
Seeds No.1 Victoria Azarenka, No.5 Angelique Kerber, No.9 Marion Bartoli and No.10 Caroline Wozniacki all advanced, while No.8 Samantha Stosur lost to Julia Goerges 7-6(2) 4-6 7-5. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
Goerges/Stosur was the best match today. Goerges has been pretty shocking lately but she played well today and managed to just about keep a lead on the errors. Bartoli tomorrow will be tough though especially as she lost to her last week in Tokyo.