Dhe audience at the Bad Homburg Open, who had persevered all day and did not decide to leave early when the persistent downpours made it unpredictable when they could play again, had a good sense of how the end of the day was forgiving was designed: Shortly before darkness fell over the spa gardens, the winner Amanda Anisimova was welcomed with appreciative applause for her performance.
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But the loser, Andrea Petkovic, also received encouraging applause when she withdrew, which, despite a disillusioning defeat, should give her courage for what is now the next task in London – and which will certainly not be easier. The Darmstadt woman lost 1: 6, 5: 7 and thus missed the quarter-finals, which would have been a nice success to set off for England with fresh self-confidence.
But Andrea Petkovic met an opponent on Tuesday evening who was superior to her in all respects and always had the right answer ready to determine the timing so that the southern Hessin was relentlessly shown the limits of their possibilities. The first set lasted just 24 minutes. In the second round it looked like an equally clear matter before Petkovic showed stamina at 2: 4 and won three games in a row.
“Not a lot of positives”
But her luck was short-lived, because Anisimova initially brought her serves through again with force, picked up the pace again, placed the balls powerfully in the corners of the court, then took the service from Petkovic and completed her work after a little more than one hour. Andrea Petkovic admitted, whose need for communication is difficult to curb on good days, and afterwards very tightly admitted “not a lot of positive things” from this performance. At most, she “fought well and did not give up”.
The fact that she was hurt by this failure in her “home game” was made clear by body language and choice of words: “If we tennis players were to worry about every defeat,” said the 33-year-old, “we would not play.” Instead, it depends on the duel with the world number 81. “Check off” to “go back to training tomorrow morning to concentrate on Wimbledon”.
Laura Siegemund reached the last eight in Bad Homburg. “I was able to move well and I felt a lot better physically,” she said after her two-set victory over Tamara Korpatsch. Siegemund will meet the Czech Katerina Siniakova this Thursday.
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