Two-time Wimbledon champion and 10th seed Petra Kvitova kept her hopes of a first French Open title alive, defeating Chinese-Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4, 6-1 to reach the third round. In a straightforward win for the Czech, Kvitova showed her dominance throughout, with the match never in question as she rebounded from being only two points from defeat the previous round. 

Kvitova fights through opening set

Kvitova began the set with a routine hold, followed by the Czech gaining the immediate break to love for a 2-0 lead. Kvitova and Hsieh held, before the Taiwanese player stole the break back with a crisp volley winner. The world number 80 then took care of her own serve, with Kvitova doing the same the following game.

With the match on serve at 4-3, Kvitova and Hsieh kept the match on serve, bringing the first set scoreline to 5-4, the Czech a game from taking the opener. With the primarily doubles specialist Hsieh serving to stay alive in the set, the pressure from Kvitova's game proved to be too much, with the Czech 10th seed eventually taking a tight, opening set 6-4. 

Petra Kvitova hits a backhand at the French Open in Paris/Getty Images
Petra Kvitova hits a backhand at the French Open in Paris/Getty Images

Kvitova cruises through second to move on

After being challenged in the opening set by the veteran, Kvitova seemed much more at ease in the second. The Czech began the set holding her serve and breaking the Hsieh serve the following game. With her service game now in full flow, the world number 12 blasted an ace to hold, breaking in the next game for a comfortable 4-0 lead.

The 10th seed was able to hold to put herself a game away from the third round at Roland Garros, but her unseeded opponent was able to keep her serve to avoid the bagel and force Kvitova to serve it out. The two-time Wimbledon champion did just that, serving the match out and taking her spot in the third round 6-4, 6-1. 

Petra Kvitova serves at the French Open in Paris/Jimmie48 Photography
Petra Kvitova serves at the French Open in Paris/Jimmie48 Photography

Kvitova behind the numbers

Using her booming lefty serve to great effect, Kvitova served well throughout, cracking three aces in the match. An area of concern for the Czech, Kvitova only made 59 percent of first serves, but making the most of them with a solid 76 percent of points won off the first delivery. Another area of struggle for the 10th seed was her second serve, as the world number 12 only won 57 percent of points on second serve, something she will need to clean up if she hopes for a deep run in Paris.

While struggling at times on her serve, the two-time Wimbledon winner brought her net game from the pristine grass of Centre Court to the slow, clay of Court Suzanne Lenglen. Kvitova won 15 out of her 19 net approaches, something that could add an extra ripple to the lefty, power game of Kvitova.

With the 26-year-old known for her high risk, high reward style of tennis, the Czech delivered on her big groundstrokes, blasting 27 winners to only 17 errors, a key statistic in almost all Kvitova matches. 

Up next for Kvitova

Up next for Kvitova is 108th ranked American Shelby Rogers, who defeated Russian Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-2 in the previous round. Kvitova and Rogers have never met and they will have a day off before they meet for a spot in the round of 16 on Friday.