Fresh off of winning her 17th career title in New Haven, Petra Kvitova continued her winning ways with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 win over German qualifier, Laura Siegemund. In the next round, Kvitova will face American Nicole Gibbs.
Dominant Opening Set from Kvitova
In the opening game of the match, Kvitova had to face a break point right away but her ruthless, aggressive hitting got her out of trouble. In the end, the Czech number one would go on to hold her opening service game. Siegemund, who has only played twelve WTA-level matches prior to this encounter, looked a little nervous in front of a partially full Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Taking full advantage of her opponent's inexperience at this level, Kvitova broke to 15 to go up a 2-0 lead. There was some hope for Siegemund though as she began to settle into this match by being more aggressive. Maneuvering the ball from side-to-side, the German was able to get the Czech on the defensive, something Kvitova is not comfortable doing. As a result, Siegemund was able to break back to love. Trailing 1-2, the qualifier was trying her best to hold serve but the number five seed made life very difficult for her, as Siegemund quickly found herself down 0-40. To her credit, the German continued to fight, as she managed to push the game to deuce before two unforced errors off of her racquet gifted Kvitova the break, once again.
Now up 3-1, Kvitova was not going to let her opponent dictate the points as she was the one who was moving the ball from side-to-side. With her big lefty serve, the world number four was able to get the first strike in most of the points. 3-1 quickly became 4-1 for Kvitova as she held to 15. Siegemund's woes on serve continued as she hit four errors to give her Czech counterpart the double break. Now serving for the set up 5-1, Kvitova only needed one chance to serve out the opening set, winning it 6-1.
More of the Same from Kvitova in the Second Set
Surprisingly, Siegemund was able to hold her serve rather comfortably, for the first time in the match. The German was trying her hardest to turn this match around. However, she was just unable to get any rhythm against the hard-hitting Czech. In the next game, Kvitova continued her dominance on serve, holding to 30, to level the match at one-game-all. Siegemund's struggles on serve returned in her next service game as the qualifier was broken to love, after hitting four consecutive errors.
Now up 2-1, the Czech looked to be on her way to another routine service hold but the German refused to throw in the towel. In that game, Siegemund earned herself a total of five break points by keeping the ball in the court and Kvitova began to miss. However, the world number four's big serve came to her rescue as she held a lengthy 13-point game to consolidate the early break. 3-1 quickly became 4-1 for Kvitova in a matter of minutes as the Czech got the insurance break, by overpowering her German counterpart.
Kvitova continued to hold her service games comfortably, to go up a 5-1 lead. Unsurprisingly, Kvitova was continuing to work her way into Siegemund's service games and she quickly gave herself three match points. The world number four didn't even need to hit a ball to seal the match as the qualifier double faulted to hand Kvitova a 6-1, 6-1 win in 59 minutes.