French Open: Andrea Petkovic reaches third round after strong performance

Andrea Petkovic has reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament at the French Open in Paris for the first time in three years after a furious performance.

The 30-year-old won on Thursday 6:0, 7:6 (7:5) after 1:19 hours against Bethanie Mattek-Sands from the USA and will now face world leaders Simona Halep (Romania) or Taylor Townsend (USA).

Petkovic had clearly controlled the action against Mattek-Sands, who is mainly known as a double specialist, at least at the beginning. In the first set Mattek-Sands scored only 13 points. After 25 minutes the Hessian won the opening round with a cross beaten forehand winner.

As a result, “Petko”, always cheered on by many fans, took her first break on the crowded Court 8, but then took away her opponent’s service game for a 4-4 equaliser. In the tiebreak Petkovic kept his nerve, acted offensively – and was not shocked by two double mistakes in a row.

The Darmstadt-based player, who crashed to 107th place in the world rankings, seamlessly continued her good performance from the first-round match against the seeded Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic (7:6, 6:2). Petkovic last advanced to the third round of a major at the US Open 2015.

Petkovic is the first of seven German players to start in Paris. On Thursday afternoon the German number one Julia Görges (Bad Oldesloe/No. 11) and the two-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber (Kiel/No. 12) could do the same.