In the round of 16
World No. 5 stops Anastasia Potapova
The current run of Austria’s top female tennis player, Anastasia Potapova, came to an end on Monday in the round of 16 at the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome. The 25-year-old rising star fell to world No. 5 Jessica Pegula 6-7(6), 2-6 after a strong first set and 1 hour and 38 minutes of play, losing her sixth match against the American.
Kronen Zeitung als bevorzugte Google-Quelle hinzufügen Potapova had repeatedly grabbed her right leg during the second set and wasn’t quite as fast as usual in the closing stages. “It was a very physical match today. I didn’t feel too good when I woke up this morning and was already feeling some pain,” Potapova explained later. She doesn’t believe it’s anything serious. “It’s probably a combination of fatigue and playing a lot of matches recently. I just need a few days to recover.”
The first set on the impressive Pietrangeli Court, surrounded by statues, featured world-class tennis and a Potapova who fought until she dropped. The 25-year-old secured the first break of the match to go up 3-1, but then fell behind 3-5. She managed to break back to make it 5-5 and—after another service break—6-6. The first set therefore went to a tiebreak. Potapova impressed with her tremendous intensity, a very strong backhand, and above all, a lot of courage even under pressure. At 4-6, she fought off two set points by taking a huge risk; Pegula then converted the third after 63 minutes.
Here are the match statistics:
Secured her WTA ranking seed for Paris
After that, the new Austrian seemed to run out of steam. The toll of the past few weeks—with the Linz final, the Madrid semifinals, and now her sixth match in Rome coming out of qualifying—began to take its toll. Potapova lost her serve at 1-3 and squandered two break-back opportunities at 2-4. She also had an issue with her right leg during this phase.
Potapova can take comfort in her prize money of 79,510 euros and 120 WTA ranking points. She moved up ten spots in the live rankings and, as the No. 28 seed, should now have secured her seeding for the French Open starting May 24.
Slightly injured, she has scrapped her original plan to compete in Strasbourg before the French Open.
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