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Petkovic had said at the start of the season that she was confused with defeats, and that she wants to get out of the Australian tour alive and well. A lot of things didn't work in Petkovic's game at that time, but that was all forgotten with a few good results. I have been following Petkovic quite a lot from the start of the grass-court season, and I can't shake off the impression that something weird is happening with her again. She hasn't played very well, especially not on these two tournaments played on hardcourt. I watched her in Stanford, almost wrote a prediction on her against Barthel, and on two matches here in Toronto. Carina took a set from her, Barthel won the match, Abanda caused a lot of problems for her. All three of these players are aggressive, they took the initiative from Petkovic and that's when the problems start for the German player. Carina failed to keep up the pressure in the second and third sets, Abanda failed in the final efficiency, Barthel eventually won the match. The match with Barthel was marked by Petkovic's outbursts in the second set. So, when things are not going her way, she gets more and more frustrated. She defeated Watson in straight sets yesterday, but it was quite difficult. Realistically, she should have left Watson at two or three won games. Should have, but didn't, which tells us enough about the fact that she is not playing at a high level. Her results, which haven't been so great lately, are better than her game. Serena has something Carina, Barthel and Abanda all had - the strength of the serve and strokes. With that, Serena is, in all segments of the game, several levels above all those players. Petkovic lost the initiative against those three players, and I wonder what the match against Serena will look like. Serena had a slower start against Pennetta, and then left her at three games in the last two sets and in the end won by five. Petkovic simply can't win a set here today, and another thing is important for this match. Petkovic had a slow start in her last four matches, she struggled, couldn't find her game. Even if Serena has a slower start of the match, Petkovic will hardly create a bigger advantage, and once Serena catches her pace and takes the initiative away from Petkovic, she will have a great advantage.