By Tennis Now | Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Jet-lagged after a long flight from Australia, Petra Kvitova topped Victoria Azarenka, 6-2, 7-6 (3) to remain undefeated in St. Petersburg.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Petra Kvitova navigated tennis turbulence to continue her St. Petersburg success flight.
Jet-lagged after a long trip from Australia to Russia, Kvitova briefly lost her range squandering a one-set, 5-1 lead before soaring through the tie breaker to land a 6-2, 7-6 (3) win over Victoria Azarenka and remain undefeated in St. Petersburg.
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"It was kind of a tough one for my first round here," Kvitova said. "For my first match playing Victoria, former number one, and of course that she really played great tennis in the past and is coming back from the motherhood.
"So she is on the way back and it was very difficult today."
Grand Slam champions squared off for the first time since the 2015 Toronto carrying disparate levels of confidence into the match.
Former world No. 1 Azarenka was coming off her first win of the season in round one, while Kvitova captured her 26th career title in Sydney then charged to her third Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, bowing to Naomi Osaka in three sets.
Dominating much of the match with her damaging return game, Kvitova streaked through eight straight games building a one-set, 3-0 lead before Azarenka finally held in the fourth game.
Eventually extending the lead to 5-1, Kvitova was on course for a straight-sets cruise, but double-faulted on her her first match point and muffed a few sitters as fatigue seemed to rob her range.
"I don't know why (the double fault) happened," Kvitova said. "I really wanted to finish it earlier but unfortunately I had to fight in the second set and I did quite well in the tie break."
Seeing the two-time Wimbledon winner's lapse, Azarenka came roaring back to force the tie breaker.
Kvitova closed the door on the uprising.
Crunching a forehand return winner, Kvitova followed with a slide serve and a backhand winner seizing a 4-1 lead in the breaker.
A pair of wild Azarenka forehands gave Kvitova four more match points.
On her third match point, Kvitova cracked a backhand winner and erupted with a scream.
It was Kvitova's fifth win in eight encounters with Azarenka and it came just four days after she fell to Naomi Osaka in a three-set Australian Open final that spanned 35 games, equaling the Open Era record for longest Melbourne women's final.
Kvitova combated fatigue with coffee.
"It's been tough, I am very tired," Kvitova said. "I needed a few coffees today and I slept OK which is very important. And I'm happy that I'm through and I have a day off tomorrow so it can be better."
Petra remains perfect in St. Petersburg.
The defending champion raised her record to 6-0 in St. Petersburg, improving to 13-2 on the seaosn.
The top-seeded Czech advanced to a quarterfinal vs. either eighth-seeded Croatian Donna Vekic or Russian lucky loser Veronika Kudermetova.
Earlier, Maria Sharapova cut short her Russian return withdrawing from the tournament with a sore right shoulder prior to her schedule second-round clash against compatriot Daria Kasatkina.
The walkover sends the third-seeded Kasatkina into a quarterfinal against compatriot Vera Zvonareva.
The Russian wild card rallied from a set and a break down surprising fifth-seeded Julia Goerges, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Zvonareva stamped a love hold for a 5-2 lead in the decider. Goerges belted a backhand down the line answering with a love hold in the eighth game.
Serving for match at 5-3, Zvonareva was two points from triumph at 30-love, but Goerges slashed three consecutive forehands down the line for break point. Dropping to a squat to try to fend off the German's forehand, Zvonareva netted a reply surrendering serve in the ninth game.
Shrugging off that lapse, the 2010 Wimbledon finalist played fierce defense draining one final drop shot error from Goerges to break back and close a physical match.
Meanwhile, Sharapova's injury issues continue.
The 31-year-old Russian has played three tournaments this year and failed to finish two of them.
Sharapova also retired from the Shenzhen quarterfinals while trailing eventual-champion Aryna Sabalenka, 6-1, 4-2.
The five-time Grand Slam champion contested just 11 tournaments in 2018.
Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova fought off lucky loser Katie Boulter, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, advancing to the second round.