Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic defeated Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Ivanovic needed just under 73 minutes to dispatch the 25-year-old Petkovic, who is struggling to regain her form after injury setbacks.
“I’m really annoyed with myself for making so many little mistakes,” said Petkovic, who has dropped from ninth to 131st in the rankings. “I had the feeling that I improved certain parts of my game in training, but then the consistency wasn’t there on the court and that’s simply annoying.”
Photo: EPA
The only seeded player in action on Tuesday, Nadia Petrova, beat Dinah Pfizenmaier in straight sets.
The eight-seeded Russian won 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 winner against the 21-year-old German qualifier.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia defeated another Russian, Elena Vesnina, 6-0, 6-4.
Germany’s Sabine Lisicki defeated Nastassja Burnett of Italy 6-3, 6-4 in the late match.
Both top seed Maria Sharapova and second seed China’s Li Na, are due to play today having been given first-round byes for the clay-court event.
Australia’s Samantha Stosur, who reached the 2010 Stuttgart final, was due to play former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia yesterday.
GRAND PRIX SAR
AP, MARRAKECH, Morocco
Defending champion Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and third-seeded Alize Cornet of France won in straight sets on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Grand Prix SAR.
Cornet cruised past Moroccan wild-card Fatima Zahrae El Allami 6-1, 6-1 while fifth-seeded Bertens rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the first set to beat Hungarian qualifier Timea Babos 7-5, 6-2.
Two-time runner-up Simona Halep of Romania, Kristina Mladenovic of France, Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria and Kaia Kanepi of Estonia also won their first-round matches.
Pironkova, a 2010 Wimbledon semi-finalist, broke twice in each set to dismiss Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1, while the fourth-seeded Kanepi knocked out 2009 champion Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Halep dominated Russia’s Nina Bratchikova 6-1, 6-3, while the seventh-seeded Mladenovic edged Alexandra Cadantu of Romania 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Mandy Minella of Luxembourg, Italian qualifier Karin Knapp and Spaniards Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Lourdes Dominguez Lino also moved into the second round.
Dominguez Lino jumped to 4-0 in the final set to oust Misaki Doi of Japan 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, while Soler-Espinosa saved eight break points to defeat Slovakian qualifier Michaela Honcova 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
Knapp won the first 11 games in her 6-0, 6-1 rout of Moroccan wild-card Lina Qostal and Minella outlasted Spanish qualifier Estrella Cabeza Candela 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-5.
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