Petkovic vs. Cepelova in Family Circle final

No matter how the final match goes, there will be a surprise champion at the Family Circle Cup.

No. 14 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany and Jana Cepelova of Slovakia advanced to the final Saturday, both rallying late in their matches to set up an unlikely championship yesterday.

Petkovic rallied in the final two sets to defeat sixth-seeded Eugenie Bouchard 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, while Cepelova came back from 4-1 down in a third-set tiebreaker to oust 17-year-old Swiss qualifier Belinda Bencic 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7).

Petkovic appeared overwhelmed by the 20-year-old Canadian early on, losing seven straight games and trailing 3-2 in the second set. That’s when the German took control, winning four consecutive games to force a decisive set.

Petkovic was trailing 4-2 in that one before digging in a final time and breaking Bouchard’s serve twice down the stretch to advance to her first championship since Washington in August where she fell to Magdalena Rybarikova in straight sets.

AP