BAD GASTEIN, Austria (AP) — Andrea Petkovic took another step toward a return to the top 10 of the WTA rankings by winning her second title of the season at the Gastein Ladies on Sunday.
The 20th-ranked German, who played her first clay-court event since reaching the semifinals at last month’s French Open, beat Shelby Rogers of the United States 6-3, 6-3 to follow up on her victory at Charleston in April.
“It’s a super feeling, I am totally happy,” said Petkovic, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 9 almost three years ago. “I want back into the top 10 and I am just playing good tennis. My serve and my footwork can still improve but I am playing well.”
Petkovic also won the event in 2009 for her first of four career titles, which have all come on clay.
“I wanted this victory so badly,” Petkovic said. “I am very relieved. Shelby played very aggressive tennis. I didn’t know her game but I’ve done some research on YouTube.”
Rogers, who came through qualifying and was ranked 147th, had not been beyond the second round of a WTA event before.
The 21-year-old American from Mount Pleasure, South Carolina, hadn’t beaten a top-50 player before but defeated No. 16-ranked Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 40 Camila Giorgi and No. 14 Sara Errani all in straight sets this week before going down to Petkovic.
“I had an incredible time,” said Rogers, who has won four events on the lower-tier ITF circuit. “This has definitely been a week I will never forget.”
Rogers broke Petkovic’s serve for an early 2-1 lead but the German immediately leveled the score. At 3-3, Petkovic took six straight games to win the opener and build a 3-0 lead in the second.
Rogers closed the gap to 3-2 and then broke her opponent again when Petkovic was serving for the match at 5-2, but netted a backhand in the next game on the German player’s first match point.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
