Today was one of the rare occasions when Wimbledon was very, very windy. ️Maybe actually I can say gusty and swirly at the same time so the players had to figure out how to survive today.
Andrea had started the match very well, actually both Andrea and her opponent played very solid tennis from the get-go. Fortunately for Andrea, she had connected with the couple of great returns followed by Great aggressive forehands, her signature style of play, aggressive, purposeful and athletic. And she was able to close that first set 6-4, with the game on 5-4 she took control even more and finishing 3 out of 4 points with a winner shot.
Second set both Zhang and the wind picked up the pace which resulted in a swift 3 zip for Shuai. Getting broken at 4-2, and made this set a real nail biter, and her next serve Shuai defended 3 break points, not allowing Andrea to serve for the match. Returning extremely well in the next game at 5-4 gave Shuai Zhang another break and the second set 6-4.
In the Third set “Petko” regrouped, the wind took a little break and she broke and held and broke Shuai in first 3 games of the 3rd set!
As things got close to the finish line, Andrea put more pressure on Shuai’s shaky second serve, and after 2 hours of very good tennis Andrea Petkovic beat Shuai Zhang 6-4,4-6,6-2, opening The Championships at Wimbledon!
(even though Captain Uniqlo RF’s match was an official tournament “opener”)