Petkovic moves through, Cornet keeps progression hopes alive

AndreaPetkovic

In the pair's third meeting of the year, Petkovic won through in just short of two hours to cap off her group campaign with a victory against the previously undefeated Slovakian at the hard-court event in Sofia.

The second players to advance to the next round will be decided on Friday, with either Cibulkova or Carla Suarez Navarro joining Petkovic in the knockout stages.

The fourth-seeded German fought back from 3-1 down in both sets to beat the world number 12 for the third match running and was unaware of her progression until told the news in her post-match media conference.

Spain's Garbine Muguruza had earlier caused a surprise by seeing off third seed Flavia Pennetta 0-6 6-1 6-1 in the Serdika Group.

A disastrous first set, which saw the 21-year-old seventh seed drop serve three times, gave Muguruza a mountain to climb, but she began her comeback early in the second as she broke to finally get on the board.

Her winning streak ended at four games, but she had done enough to take control of the set and level matters, before matching that effort in the decider - though Muguruza did spurn five match-point opportunities before wrapping up the victory.

In the other game of the Serdika Group, Alize Cornet got off the mark and kept alive her hopes of progressing with victory over Russian top seed Ekaterina Makarova.

Makarova was beaten by Muguruza in her first outing at this year's competition and French world number 20 Cornet compounded her misery with a 6-1 6-4 success.

In the pair's first meeting, Cornet sailed through the opening set in just over half an hour, but her five double-faults halted her somewhat in the second as Makarova showed glimpses of a recovery, only to fall short in a closely fought final set.

Cornet will play Muguruza on Friday, while Pennetta faces Karolina Pliskova, who is replacing Makarova after the Russian withdrew due to a back injury picked up in Sinagpore recently.

"I tried my best these first few matches, but the third one would have been really tough since it has been getting worse," she explained.

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