On the eve of the French Open, Andrea Petkovic claimed her second WTA title and a new career-high ranking of No.12. In the final of the Internationaux de Strasbourg, which was the only International-level final in nine years that top two seeds played, the 15th-ranked Petkovic had a retirement victory over seed No.1 Marion Bartoli.
France’s Bartoli lost just 11 games en route to the final and earned a 2-0 lead at the start of the match with Petkovic, but the German took the first set and won the first game of the second when Bartoli retired with a left thigh injury, at 6-4 1-0.
The first Petkovic’s title also came at an International-level clay court event, at Bad Gastein in 2009.
Regarding the French Open, Petkovic has never progressed past the second round, but this year she’s among the players who are marked with the big expectations label. However, the 15th-seeded German faces a stiff challenge in the very beginning. Her first-round opponent will be Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski who is a hard-hitter and is capable of making an upset at any moment.
Another player crowned her lead-up to the French Open today – world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki defeated Peng Shuai in the final of the Brussels Ladies Open. (photo: Stephane Martinache)
Yeah! I’ve always said it can’t take a long time till Petko wins a tournament this season. She proved she’s got the potencial which is needed for playing with the big ones.
Go Petko, go!
Way to go Petko! She’ll be in the top 10 soon enough. Bojana is one of the youngsters to keep an eye on ’cause she’s good enough at the aggressive game.
Hope injury not too serious for Bartoli, French crowd loves her and Marion should do well against Tatishvili in R1 at RG.
Finally, a huge congrats to Caro for bagging her first red clay tourney. Woz is the clear points winner so far in red clay tourneys held this season. Her 1325 points tops all others.
P.S. It won’t be long before the talented Peng gets her first WTA singles title.