Marathon girl Petkovic reaches first 2013 final

Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, playing her ninth match in 11 days, reached the Nuremberg WTA claycourt final today with a 6-4, 6-3 win over top seed Jelena Jankovic.

Petkovic, a former world number nine whose ranking has sunk to 109 after a series of injuries, will tackle Simona Halep in the final.

The Romanian seventh seed won a tough three-setter, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, against Czech fifth seed Lucie Safarova.

“I was hoping the match wouldn’t go on forever as I was really tired,” said Petkovic, after her 90-minute win.

Petkovic won a lower-tier ITF event in Marseille last weekend after failing to get out of qualifying for the French Open.