Birmingham Classic: Petra Martić Secures Career-Best Ranking Despite Loss in Semis

Daniela Rogulj

Petra Martić lost in the semi-final of the Birmingham Classic on Saturday to the 30-year-old German player Julia Görges. 

After Friday’s quarter-final of the Birmingham Classic, where Petra Martić was one set down, losing 4:0 in the second, and managed to save five match points for the win in an incredible turnaround against Jelena Ostapenko (6-7, 7-5, 6-1), she was unable to make the magic happen once again for a spot in the final.  

Namely, the Croatian female tennis player lost in the semi-final of the WTA tournament in Birmingham to Germany’s Julia Görges, who is 19th on the WTA ranking. The eighth-seed of the tournament celebrated with a score of 6:4, 6:3 after less than 90 minutes of tennis, reports Gol.hr on June 22, 2019.

In the first set, both players held their service, but only until the ninth game when Görges used her first break point. Görges then used her first set point to lead the game 1:0 in sets. 

Martić opened the second set by losing her serve, which was followed by a series of winning two games and a break point for the 3:1 lead. Görges, however, came back to break the Croatian tennis player and ended the match by taking Petra’s serve. 

Petra ended the game without aces and hit 64 percent of her first serve. She also used one of two break points in the match, while Görges used four of the ten she had. 

This was the second encounter of Martić and Görges and the second win of the German player, who also celebrated in Portoroz in 2008.

Despite the defeat, Martić will progress one place on the WTA ladder, and from Monday will be the 24th best female tennis player in the world, which is her new career ranking. Only two places above her is Donna Vekić, Croatia’s best female tennis player on the ranking. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page

 

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