San Diego update - Petkovic storms into the Semis

Andrea Petkovic produced a solid performance to defeat the talented youngster, Sloane Stephens, 6-2 6-1. Stephens started the match with some real intent hitting some beautiful clean winners past Petkovic. She has a very nice game including a willingness to come into the net, which is refreshing to see in an up and coming player. However from 2-2, Stephens failed to maintain her consistency and threw in a huge amount of errors as her mind appeared to wander.


Andrea Petkovic continues to show excellent form on the hard courts

Petkovic started slowly making numerous errors, many off the forehand side. However she improved during the match and by the end, was demonstrating her superior experience over the American. Petkovic has had an excellent year and continues to make progress within her game. She still seems to make quite a few errors in matches but the key thing now is she is managing to pull the wins through and all the time improving her consistency in match play.

Petkovic will debut in the top 10 next week, which is an excellent achievement considering she was ranked number 38 going into the US Open last year. She is still a relatively new face to the tour and inexperienced compared to her fellow top tenners. I'm interested to see how far she can go. Personally I think shes a very good player but I don't think her game is strong enough to take her into the top 5. Stephens is no doubt a talent but whether she has the mental game to go far is as yet to be decided. She seems a fun and down to earth character off the court so I hope she can be a future star.

Petkovic will now play Agnieszka Radwanska who beat Daniela Hantuchova in a come-from-behind victory, 0-6 6-4 6-4. Radwanska was apparently struggling from a shoulder injury, which makes the win all the more impressive. Once again, it also demonstrated Hantuchova's mental frailities which have prevented her really breaking through in the women's game.


Radwanska has been in good form but has had a gruelling schedule and will play for the 3rd time in 3 weeks in Toronto next week

Vera Zvonareva managed to claw past Sabine Lisicki in an gruelling encounter, 6-3 3-6 6-4. This was an excellent win for Zvonareva who continues to gather her game together after an indifferent few months. A loss for Lisicki will be disappointing however I feel she has played a lot in the last two weeks and tiredness may have been an issue. I'm pleased to see shes having a week off and not competing in Toronto. Zvonareva will play Ana Ivanovic in the next round after she defeated Peng Shuai, 6-4 6-2.


Ivanovic now being coached by Nigel Sears, has had a great week so far in San Diego