PARIS: ‘Twisted soul’ Andrea Petkovic joyously planted a kiss on her racquet frame after she battled through drizzle and swirling winds on Wednesday to set up an unlikely French Open semifinal showdown with Romanian Simona Halep.
The 28th seeded German came close to turning her back on tennis a year ago after being hobbled by back, ankle and knee injuries but 12 months on she was getting up close and personal with her racquet after blowing Italy’s Sara Errani off court with a 6-2, 6-2 win.
“I never kissed my racquet before in my life. I don’t know what happened to me. I was just overwhelmed by emotion. I had no boy to kiss, so I kissed my racquet,” laughed the bubbly 26-year-old after reaching her first grand slam semifinal.
A match featuring 10 breaks and 32 unforced errors was never going to be pretty and a three-hour rain delay left Roland Garros feeling more like a winter wonderland as temperatures dipped to a chilly 10 degrees Celsius. But Petkovic won the points that mattered.
A match that started with spectators huddled under blankets on Philippe Chatrier Court ended with Petkovic beaming in delight as Errani slapped a backhand wide.
After becoming the first German woman to reach the last four in Paris since Steffi Graf in 1999, a player who is influenced by the writings of a number of philosophers said she would now “like to call Freud and ask him what he thinks about… my twisted soul.”
Such a thought is unlikely to trouble Halep, who will be more interested in concentrating on Petkovic’s tennis skills after she too reached her first major semifinal with an equally scrappy 6-2, 6-2 win over 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
“It was a perfect day for me,” said Halep, who is bidding to become the first Romanian woman to win the clay court major since her manager Virginia Ruzici achieved the feat in 1978.
“I won in two sets and very fast. I’m happy, and I really want to look forward for the next round because it’s my first semi-final at grand slam, and I have to be very focused, very calm, and to try to do everything on court.”
Kuznetsova sports a tattoo on her right arm which declares “pain doesn’t kill me, I kill the pain” but on Wednesday a left hamstring strain proved to be her undoing as she dropped serve six times before bowing out.
“Maybe it was wasn’t her best day today, but for me it was the best,” added fourth seed Halep after becoming the only woman to reach the last four without dropping a set.
Nadal wins in four sets
Eight-time champion Rafael Nadal extended his win-loss record to 64-1 later when he came from a set down to beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 in their quarterfinal clash.
Andy Murray led two sets to love before home hero Gael Monfils stormed back to take the next two, forcing a decider.
However, Monfils had run out of gas by then and lost 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-0. (Reuters)
