WTA Gippsland Trophy: Petkovic, Juvan, Begu, Schmiedlova make winning start

The Gippsland Trophy is one of three WTA 500 events at Melbourne Park this week, serving as the last opportunity for the players to shape their game ahead of the Australian Open following a two-week quarantine. Andrea Petkovic played only one match in 2020, struggling with injuries and preparing for a fresh start in 2021. The German defeated Martina Trevisan 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in an hour and 21 minutes for her first victory since Luxembourg 2019. Trevisan recovered her game in the second set and made one last push in the decider's closing stages before finishing on the losing side. Petkovic fired five aces and saved four out of ten break chances, offering plenty of opportunities to the Italian and erasing that with eight breaks on her tally to cross the finish line first. Martina couldn't hold serve in the opening five service games, finding herself behind before rattling off the last three games of set number two to force a decider.

Andrea Petkovic and Kaja Juvan are through to the second round in Melbourne.

There, Andrea rattled off 12 of 14 points from 3-2 down to forge a 5-3 advantage, serving for the win at 5-4. Trevisan pulled the break back to level the score before Petkovic grabbed the last two games to seal the deal and avoid a tie break. The 20-year-old Kaja Juvanneeded two hours and nine minutes to oust Yafan Wang 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 and reach the second round. Kaja got broken four times and compensated that with six successful return games, taking control in set number two and prevailing in the third to emerge at the top. Wang grabbed an early break in the opening set and kept it wisely following five comfortable service games that led her towards 6-4.

The young gun took charge in set number two and found the return key, delivering three straight breaks to gather momentum and moving 4-1 up in the final set. The Chinese erased the deficit and locked the score at 4-4 before Kaja seized the remaining two games and celebrated the win. Irina-Camelia Begu ousted the 11th seed Saisai Zheng 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 after two hours and 45 minutes. We saw 14 double faults and no less than 25 break chances, 15 for Zheng, who seized only three and wasted her opportunity. The Romanian secured four breaks and came from a break down in the decider to seal the deal with a break at 5-4.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3j2fKR8