August 7, 2020 – Croatian tennis player Petra Martic advanced to the quarterfinal of the WTA tournament in Palermo – the Palermo Ladies Open. In the 2nd round match, after more than two and a half hours of play, she defeated Russian Ludmila Samsonova 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Martic, who was appointed the first seed of the tournament in Palermo for the first time in her career, had a tough match against the 21-year-old Russian, currently the 117th player in the world.
In the first set, Martic managed to deny Samsonova’s eight set-points, but not the ninth. Martic then had a break point, which Samson managed to save. With a 6-5 advantage, the Russian again reached three consecutive set points, Martic saved the first two, but could not find the strength to save the third and lost the first set.
However, already in the first game of the second set, Martic finally took Samsonova’s serve and certainly kept that advantage until the 4-3 lead. She then played a feeble service game and lost the edge without winning a point, but she did not let herself get down, and in the next game, she retaliated and served for the set. That game wasn’t easy, either. Samsonova secured two new break points, but Martic then played four excellent points to level the score.
Martic had her first break in the third set for a 2-1 advantage, and in the continuation of the duel, she served better and better and did not allow the Russian the opportunity to return. With a new break for 5-2, it was clear that Martic would be the winner.
During the match, Martic scored six aces with a first-serve percentage of 69 percent and saved as many as 12 of her opponent’s 14 break points. For her second WTA semifinal in 2020 (Dubai) she will play against another qualifier, Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, the 119th tennis player in the world.
“The struggle was real out there today. She’s not the type of player I like to play. She plays really fast, flat, low, on this court it can be tricky with bad bounces. Overall I really didn’t really enjoy myself. I was just going to have to fight,” Petra Martic said for Eurosport.com.
The quarterfinal is scheduled for Friday at 4 pm.
Source: HRT
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