Injured Petkovic served double bagel in Zhuhai
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CARLA Suarez Navarro handed injury-hampered Andrea Petkovic the first 6-0, 6-0 “double bagel” of her top-level career yesterday in the simplest of wins at the WTA Elite Trophy.
The Spaniard was on court for just 51 minutes against Germany’s Petkovic, who was troubled by a knee problem. Petkovic won only 24 percent of points on her first serve and was broken six times.
Both players looked downcast as they came off the court and Suarez Navarro described it as a “sad” win, praising 24th-ranked Petkovic for not retiring from the match.
“I really appreciate the fight because she was on court all the time,” said the Spaniard, in comments released by the Women’s Tennis Association from the event in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong Province.
“She didn’t retire. She played not only for herself — she played also for the fans, for me. You know, not a lot of players in the circuit will stay on court with the situation that Andrea was living today... was maybe a sad win for me.”
Earlier, Roberta Vinci beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-4, and third seed Karolina Pliskova overcame former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
The tournament brings together 11 of the top players who did not qualify for last week’s WTA Finals in Singapore, including Caroline Wozniacki, and Venus Williams. Zheng Saisai of China was added to the field as a wildcard entry.
The qualifiers compete in a four-group round robin format, with the winners of each group advancing to the semifinals.
Today, Russia’s Kuznetsova will face Dane Wozniacki, needing victory to keep alive her hopes of advancing.
In Paris, Andy Murray advanced to the third round of the Paris Masters by beating 18-year-old Croatian Borna Coric 6-1, 6-2 yesterday.
The second-seeded Murray won 84 percent of his first-serve points and broke Coric twice in each set.
Murray will next play 16th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium, who beat Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-2. Murray and Goffin will also face each other later this month in the Davis Cup final.
No. 6 Kei Nishikori of Japan, No. 10 Richard Gasquet of France, No. 13 John Isner of the United States and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria also advanced.
Nishikori produced a storming final set to defeat home hope Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 6-1 in the second round.
The 25-year-old Japanese world No. 7 was a semifinalist in Paris last year, losing to eventual winner Novak Djokovic, the top seed.
He goes on to face another Frenchman, 10th seed Gasquet, who eased past Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-2, 7-5.
In other second-round match-ups, Dimitrov upset former US Open champion Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), and Isner got the better of Briton Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 7-6 (3).
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