Petra Kvitova was made to work in her first-round clash against Anna-Lena Friedsam at the Ningbo Open on Monday. The second-seeded Czech eventually carved out a 7-6(2), 6-1 win over the German after an hour and 36 minutes of play.
The left-hander picked up pace briskly right from the outset. However, her own serve kept letting her down and Kvitova kept allowing Friedsam back into the set. In the 10th game, Kvitova was unable to close out the set at the time of serving for it. Friedsam dropped her serve yet again in the 11th game but Kvitova once again disappointed as she was unable to take advantage of this opening she had, too. In the tie-break though, there were no mistakes from Kvitova and she rode a new wave of momentum to clinch the tie-break 7-2 to take a lead in the match.
The second set saw a continuation of this momentum from Kvitova. She did lose her serve once in the set but did well to convert all three break points she had on the German’s serve to close out the match strongly.
Ningbo Open: Vera Zvonareva ousts Katie Boulter
Kvitova will take on Yulia Putintseva next. The Kazakh scored a 6-4, 6-1 win over Daria Saville in an hour and 19 minutes. Putintseva faced half-a-dozen break points of which she saved four. Her Australian rival also faced a similar number but could only save one. Putintseva won 64 points to her opponent’s 39 to wrap up the match.
Former world no. 2 Vera Zvonareva upset eighth seed Katie Boulter in their first-round match. Zvonareva needed three hours and 11 minutes to complete a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3) win over the Briton. The deciding set had numerous breaks of serve between the two opponents before the 39-year-old secured the tie-break to get the win for herself.
Clara Tauson will be Vera Zvonareva’s next opponent at the Ningbo Open. The Dane defeated Elina Avanesyan 6-4, 6-1 in their first-round match in 77 minutes.
Other Results© Abbey Johnson
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