Petkovic to meet Pennetta in Sofia final

andreapetkovic

Petkovic, seeded fourth at the hard-court event in Sofia, had too much for her Spanish opponent during the 6-1 6-4 semi-final victory.

The German needed just 24 minutes to take the first set, but slipped to a 2-0 deficit at the start of the second.

After overcoming that blip, Petkovic reeled off the next five games in a row and had the opportunity to clinch the win with a match point when serving at 5-2.

To her credit, Muguruza fended off that opportunity and even fought back to trail 5-4 before coming agonisingly close to levelling when she had a break point on Petkovic's serve.

It was not to be, though, as Petkovic steadied herself to see out the win and she now looks for her third title of the season in the 10th WTA final of her career.

After the match Petkovic paid tribute to Muguruza, saying: "Players like that who are so aggressive and so talented, they just need one or two rallies to get back into the match.

"I was glad I could serve really well in the end of the match and close it out there."

Pennetta, seeded third, also progressed in straight sets with a 6-4 6-2 triumph over Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

The Italian, who lost her previous encounter to Suarez Navarro in Beijing,  broke her opponent on five occasions in a match lasting one hour and 28 minutes.

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