World Number 10 Andrea Petkovic beat Number 14 Karolina Pliskova 6-4 6-2 to reach the semifinal of the WTA Premier Mandatory in Miami where she will face Carla Suarez Navarro who recovered from a 0-6 loss in the first set to edge Venus Williams with 0-6 6-1 7-5. Diego Sampaolo
Andrea Petkovic pulled away to 4-1 after the two players traded breaks in the early games of the first set. Pliskova broke back for 3-4 and held serve in the next game to draw level to 4-4. Pliskova earned three brek points as Petkovic was serving. The German fended off all three break points. Pliskova was broken as she committed three unforced errors on the set point to lose the first set with 6-4. Petkovic reeled off five games in a row to open up a 3-0 lead. Pliskova held her serve on her next two service points by saving a break point in each game but she never posed a serious threat to Petkovic who never looked back and won the second set with 6-2.
Petkovic hit 17 winners to 10 unforced errors. Pliskova hit 18 winners but committed 27 unforced errors. So far in her career the German player has reached the semifinal stage in Miami in 2011, in Bejing in 2011 and at the Roland Garros in 2014.
“Karolina started playing really well. I was a little lucky at the end of the first set and then I was playing better and better from there”, said Petkovic
Carla Suarez Navarro bounced back from losing the first set with 0-6 in the first set to edge Venus Williams in three sets with 0-6 6-1 7-5. The Spanish player, who did not hit a single winner in the 27-minute opening set compared to the 14 winners produced by Venus, broke serve in the first game of the second set before saving a break-back point. Suarez Navarro pulled away to 4-0 after winning the best rally of the match en route to winning the second set with 6-1. Venus broke serve twice in the third set but Suarez Navarro broke back on both occasions. When the tie-break looked to be the inevitable conclusion of the match, Venus committed three double points and two unforced errors to drop her serve in the 12th game. With this win Suarez Navarro has reached the biggest semifinal of her career at a Premier-Mandatory level tournament.
Suarez Navarro will face Andrea Petkovic in the re-match of the Antwerp final last February where the Spanish player was forced to withdraw. They tied 2-2 in their previous head-to-head matches.
“It was a crazy match, a crazy first two sets and Venus was unbelievable at the beginning. I started a little bit nervous, but in tennis, even if you lose the first set, you are still in contention. I am happy with the way I came back after losing the first set”, said Suarez Navarro
