SOFIA: Germany’s And­rea Petkovic claimed her third title of the year beat Italian Flavia Pennetta 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a pulsating final of the of the season-ending WTA Tournament of Champions on Sunday.

In a match lasting more than two hours, the 27-year-old Petkovic was broken three times in a disastrous first set but recovered to edge the next two thanks to her booming serve.

The German earned the only break in the first game and held on to close the second set. Petkovic’s better physical condition was decisive in the third set. She broke Pennetta’s serve at 3-3 and cruised from there.

It is the first time clay-court specialist Petkovic, who reached the French Open semi-finals earlier this year, has ever won a hard-court title.

The fourth seed Petkovic took her head-to-head series against the third-seeded Pen­n­e­tta to 3-2 and added to titles at Charleston and Bad Gas­tein she won earlier this year.

In Saturday’s semi-final, Petkovic defeated Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 6-1, 6-4 while Pennetta won 6-4, 6-2 against another Spaniard, Carla Suarez Navarro.

This eight-player season-ending tournament is for players who have won one or more of the WTA International events during the year but failed to qualify for the WTA Finals, which was staged in Singapore last week.

The six-year-old tournament will move to Zhuhai, Chi­­­na, next year after a three-year run in Sofia.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2014