Kaia Kanepi shocks Andrea Petkovic in the quarter-finals – Brisbane International 2012
Estonian Kaia Kanepi surprised everyone upsetting the second seed, Andrea Petkovic, with a breadstick at the Brisbane WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event on Thursday. She manifested a 6-1, 7-6(7) victory over the German
to advance into the semi-finals of this Australian Open build-up tournament.
Ranked 34th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Kanepi, displayed awe-inspiring skills and agility to outsmart the world number 10 in their second meeting. She not only maintained her winning streak against the German number
one but also inched closer to her eighth career title.
Kanepi blasted massive ground strokes to go on a five games killing spree before the German icon could hold on. She then held her serve once more and pocketed a breadstick. The Estonian smacked four aces and clinched 15 out of
20 points on her first serve in the opening round. She also brushed off both break chances to her advantage and cashed in half of the four break chances.
26-year-old carried her momentum to the second set and drew the first blood in the opening game to take the initial lead. Later, she held remaining serves until she faced a bump in the tenth game and levelled the scores at 5-5.
The set went to a tie-breaker where the unseeded Estonian outfoxed Petkovic and sealed the success with a 7-6(7) victory. She again manipulated an impressive 21 out of 29 scores on her first serve share and hammered eight ferocious aces to dominate.
The Estonian enjoyed a successful 2011 season as she reached her career best rank at number 16 in the world on February 14th. She made semi-final berths at the Paris WTA Premier event and at the Biella and Helsinki ITF
events. Kanepi also reached the title-round at the Moscow WTA Premier event before starting this season with conviction.
Kanepi will next confront the third seeded Italian, Francesca Schiavone, who made a comeback win against the sixth seed, Jelena Jankovic, to set-up this meeting. The Italian number one saved 10 out of 16 breakpoints she came across
and converted six out of twelve break chances to her advantage, sealing the success with a 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-3 score line.
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