Women Tennis News – Marrakech and Stuttgart

Written by: Staff on 24th April 2013

Women Tennis News - Marrakech and Stuttgart

epa03674335 Serbian Ana Ivanovic in action against German Andrea Petkovic (not seen)during their first round match of the WTA Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, 23 April 2013. EPA/DANIEL MAURER |

Marrakech

Third seed Alize Cornet led the way into the second round as she beat Fatima El Allami of Morocco 6-1, 6-1. Dutch fifth seed Kiki Bertens followed suit over Hungarian Timea Babos 7-5, 6-2. France’s Kristina Mladenovic, seeded seventh, beat Alexandra Cadantu 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 while Tournament No. 9 Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria put out Czech Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-1.

There were also wins on the clay for Romanian Simona Halep and a pair of Spaniards, with Lourdes Dominguez Lino stopping Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 and Silvia Soler Espinosa beating Slovak Michaela Honcova 7-6(4), 6-2.

Stuttgart

The comeback effort just gets more complicated for Andrea Petkovic as the German lost in the first round of her home event, going out to Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-2. Petkovic, who underwent knee surgery in January, had reached the third round in her only two previous events this season at Miami and Charleston.

Stuttgart has produced highs and lows for Petko. After reaching the quarter-finals in 2011, she returned last season to the event from a back injury only to injure her right ankle. That required an operation and kept her off the WTA until last August.

With a ranking which dropped as low as 177, she currently stands 131 and is burning through a limited number of wildcards.

Russian eighth seed Nadia Petrova defeated Germany’s Dinah Pfizenmaier 7-6(2), 6-4 while Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni beat Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-0, 6-4. Maria Sharapova, now signed to a three-year contract with tournament sponsor Porsche, is defending her title at the event and starts after a bye.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Alize Cornet, Ana Ivanovic, Ana Petkovic, Marrakech tennis news, Nadia Petrova, Stuttgart tennis news, women tennis news, Wta