After a dire grass court swing where she failed to produce consecutive victories in three tournaments she took part in, Petra Kvitova returned to the hard courts at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal, having hoisted the trophy four years ago. After her first round win over Magda Linette Monday, the Czech was no-nonsense in producing an equally impressive victory over former top 10 player Andrea Petkovic to advance to the round of 16.
Kvitova races through opening set
Petkovic kicked off the match by comfortably holding serve to fifteen and her opponent followed suit, doing so to love. The next game went to deuce (the only game of the entire match to go to deuce) as Petkovic failed to convert three game points. Kvitova then brought up a break point and converted it with ease to lead 2-1. The Czech then consolidated the break without much fuss to extend her lead to 3-1.
The ensuing two games saw both players hold their serves. With the score now at 4-2, Kvitova broke Petkovic once more, this time to love with a forehand winner and gave herself a chance to close out the first set. A backhand winner was all that the Czech needed to seal it 6-2 in exactly 30 minutes.
Kvitova holds on to a break to victory
After trading service holds in the opening four games of the second set, the latter two to love, Kvitova caught fire first by creating three break opportunities in the fifth game with Petkovic serving. Despite missing her first chance, she converted her second to lead 3-2 after a double fault from her opponent.
The double fault proved costly for Petkovic. Despite the following four games featuring comfortable hold of serves, the German was never able to step in on her opponent’s serve and break back. Up 5-4 and serving for the victory, Kvitova went up 40-15, with two chances to finish off the match and did so in spectacular fashion, delivering her sixth ace of the match to win 6-2, 6-4 in 78 minutes. With the win, Kvitova recorded back-to-back wins for just the fifth time this season, her first since the French Open two months ago.
The most impressive statistic from the Czech was her service department, producing six aces to just one double fault. Petkovic, on the other hand, was not as clean, her sole ace was outnumbered by five double faults.
Kvitova made the most of her lethal first serve, winning 24 out of 29 first serve points. Even more striking, she never faced a single break point throughout the contest. The Czech also recorded a greater proportion of first serves (64% as opposed to her opponent’s 54%).
Up next
Kvitova sets up a round of 16 clash with ninth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. This will be the sixth meeting between the pair of former world number twos. Kvitova won their last match in the final of Madrid last year. Their latest clash on hard came at Indian Wells two years ago which was also won by the Czech in three sets.