Andrea Petkovic and Julia Schruff Fighting for a Place in the Main Draw

Stuttgart. Fans of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix can look forward to a third German alongside Sabine Lisicki and Anna-Lena Grönefeld, who were both given a wildcard, in the main draw of the tournament in the Porsche Arena. One of either Andrea Petkovic or Julia Schruff, who both play for the same TC Benrath club, will face each other in the final round of qualifying on Monday.

“When I break a spell then I do it properly,” said a highly pleased Andrea Petkovic after her second win in qualifying against the Belarusian Olga Govortsova. It is the furthest she has gone at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She again started slowly and lost the first set on a tie-break but then promptly made a big improvement. “I was hell bent on winning and I really wanted to follow on from my performance on Saturday,” she said. With success, as she proceeded to win the second set 6-0 and the third 6-1. Now she wants to clear the final hurdle. “The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is my favourite tournament and it’s all the more fun now I’m winning,” said Petrovic.

Whilst Julia Schruff followed her into the final round of qualifying after a 7-5, 6-4 win against Sesil Karatancheva (Kazakhstan), Sarah Gronert went down 6-3, 6-3 to the Italian Alberta Brianti. Initially there were nine German players in qualifying at the 700,000 dollar tournament where the winner will receive a Porsche Boxster S in addition to the prize money.

26/04/2009