Petkovic reaches first Grand Slam semi-final

Germany's Andrea Petkovic reached the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday as she overpowered 10th seed Sara Errani of Italy 6-2, 6-2.
The Bosnian-born outsider, who is the lowest seed in the women's draw at 28, reaches her first Grand Slam semi-final after having made the quarter-finals at Australia, Roland Garros and the US Open in 2011.
Errani won the first two games of the match before Petkovic reeled off six in a row to take the opening set 6-2 in 27 minutes.
Behind a first serve percentage of 91 per cent, the 26-year-old, who reached a personal high of world number nine in 2011 before a spate of injuries derailed her career, broke Errani's serve seven times in total, as she wrapped up the match in just over an hour.
She fired off 26 winners, many of them from a powerful backhand, while Errani could only muster 11 winners and had a first serve winning percentage of just 39 per cent.
Another telling statistic was Errani's weak second serve on which she won just two of 12 points as Petkovic attacked at every opportunity.
Errani, who has been beaten on her previous two visits to Paris by the eventual champion in Serena Williams (2013) and Maria Sharapova (2012), failed in her bid to reach a third straight Roland Garros semi-final.
Her defeat in the 2012 final against four-time Slam champion Sharapova is her only appearance in the final of a major tournament.
Petkovic will meet either Romanian fourth seed Simona Halep or 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia for a place in the final.
Source: AFP