Thursday, April 21, 2011

Stosur goes to first semifinal of the season in Stuttgart

The phrases "Vera Zvonareva" and "broken racquet" go together in the lexicon of women's professional tennis, but today in Stuttgart, it was a case of Vera Zvonareva and broken strings. The 2nd seed's strings broke repeatedly, sometimes more than once during a game. At one point, she had to use her coach's racquet. And for the sixth time in a row, Stosur beat her. The 5th seed--who is again showing signs that clay is the surface on which she is most comfortable--won 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, and will play Julia Goerges in the semifinals.

Goerges, who is the last German standing, broke countrywoman Sabine Lisicki at 4-all in both the first and second set, and walked away with a 6-4, 6-4 win. She and Andrea Petkovic lost in the doubles quarterfinals, however. They were defeated in straight sets by wild cards Stosur and Licsicki.

A lot of people probably expected Andrea Petkovic to be the last German standing. On paper, she should be. The "old Petkovic" used to choke away leads, and--just when we thought she had been banished--she showed up today in Stuttgart. Petkovic was up 4-1, 40-0 in the first set, and somehow managed to lose it 4-6. After that, top seed Caroline Wozniacki simply took over; Petkovic won one game in the second set.

Wozniacki's opponent in the semifinals will be Agnieszka Radwanska. I really wanted to watch Radwanska's match against Kristina Barrois because I so enjoy both of their games. In the middle of the first set, though, I had to leave. Radwanska won, 7-5, 6-3.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You say Petkovic lost the first set 4-6 after having led 5-1? That is indeed choking on a completely new level! ;-)

Diane said...

It wasn't pretty. And you knew she wasn't going to get it back, either. And especially against Wozniacki.

VoR said...

Well, no. But to actually go from 5 to 4 games won takes some doing!

bill said...

I think Caro was down 4-1...before the yips set in for Petkorazzi. I hope Andrea perseveres. She has the talent.

Diane said...

Yes, sorry, I struck the "5" key when I meant "4." But it was still pretty surprsing, considering how much Petkovic has improved in mental strength lately.

Marylou said...

It can't succeed in fact, that is what I think.