Tennis tournament in Linz: Petkovic fails in the semifinals at 15 years old Gauff

Andrea Petkovic retired at the WTA tournament in Linz in the semi-finals. The 32-year-old German defeated 4: 6, 4: 6 against Cori Gauff. The only 15-year-old American moved for the first time in her career in a final on the WTA Tour, although she had failed in qualifying yet and only as a lucky loser came into the peloton.

In a balanced match Gauff convinced especially when they had to fall back on their second serve. Only 56 percent of Petkovic's second attempts led to point wins, with Gauff 77 percent. In addition, the American scored with her nerves strength: Nine of the ten break opportunities of Germans fended off Gauff.

For the first time Gauff had attracted attention in Wimbledon in July, when she was able to defeat the seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the first round as a qualifier and advance to the second round. There she lost to eventual tournament winner Simona Halep. In Linz, Gauff had already caused a surprise in the quarter-finals, when they won against the seeded Dutch Kiki Bertens 7: 6, 6: 4.

In the final Gauff meets on Sunday (14 clock) to the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko or Yekaterina Alexandrowa from Russia, who play in the second semi-final against each other. Regardless of the outcome of the tournament, Gauff placed for the first time on Monday among the top 100 players in the world rankings, where she is currently still ranked 110th. Petkovic is there on the 75th place.