Petra Kvitova Opens Birmingham Defense with Win Over Johanna Konta
Petra Kvitova opened the defense of her Nature Valley Classic title with 6-3, 6-4 win over British No.1 Johanna Konta on Tuesday.
“I think it was not really easy playing Jo here,” said the Czech. “So, for sure, she had a couple of great matches in Nottingham, so it showed me something. I’m glad after three days on the grass I could play kind of good game. Of course there are a couple things I can improve, but overall, like for the first match, I think it was fine.”
“Playing on the grass, which always brings more energy to me,” the two-time Wimbledon winner added. “But overall I needed that break, which I had after the French. I’m looking forward to my next one after Wimbledon. But overall I felt good with the energy. That’s important. Those matches are always trying with the tough opponent. You need to be ready for every point. Luckily it was fine.”
In her first match on a grass-court since winning Wimbledon last year, reigning Wimbledon champion Garbiñe Muguruza, dominated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-2.
“It was a very fast match in general because she plays very aggressive and I play very aggressive, said the Spaniard. “Since the first ball, I felt good in the match. I will play her a lot of times and I know she’s a very good opponent. So I’m very happy to start playing someone who is very good and feeling that I am in control of the game.”
“I think I serve and return well. That’s very important. I came early here so the movement was pretty good as well. Hopefully it’s going to get better. But as a first match on grass, it’s good.”
Last week’s Nature Valley Open Nottingham champion Ashleigh Barty, who was runner-up to Kvitova in Birmingham last year, won 6-4, 6-3 over qualifier Oceane Dodin. Fifth seed Julia Goerges and second seed Elina Svitolina also advanced.
NATURE VALLEY CLASSIC – BIRMINGHAM – BIRMINGHAM, UK
$871,028
JUNE 18 – 24, 2018
RESULTS – JUNE 19, 2018
Singles – First Round
[1] G. Muguruza (ESP) d A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 61 62
[2] [WC] E. Svitolina (UKR) d D. Vekic (CRO) 61 36 61
[4] P. Kvitova (CZE) d J. Konta (GBR) 63 64
[5] J. Goerges (GER) d M. Sakkari (GRE) 64 64
[6] D. Kasatkina (RUS) d [Q] Kr. Pliskova (CZE) 36 75 64
[Q] D. Jakupovic (SLO) d [7] E. Mertens (BEL) 36 76(7) 61
P. Martic (CRO) d [8] C. Vandeweghe (USA) 63 62
B. Strycova (CZE) d [Q] J. Brady (USA) 36 75 63
L. Tsurenko (UKR) d [WC] H. Watson (GBR) 76(2) 75
A. Barty (AUS) d [Q] O. Dodin (FRA) 64 63
M. Buzarnescu (ROU) d T. Babos (HUN) 63 46 60
A. Cornet (FRA) d E. Makarova (RUS) 57 64 61
Doubles – First Round
V. King (USA) / K. Srebotnik (SLO) d [WC] E. Bouchard (CAN) / D. Cibulkova (SVK) 26 62 10-8
ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2018
ANN JONES CENTRE COURT start 11:30 am
M. Rybarikova (SVK) vs K. Mladenovic (FRA)
N. Osaka (JPN) vs [Q] D. Jakupovic (SLO)
A. Cornet (FRA) vs [2] [WC] E. Svitolina (UKR)
P. Martic (CRO) vs M. Buzarnescu (ROU)
COURT 1 start 11:30 am
H. Chan (TPE) / Z. Yang (CHN) vs [3] L. Chan (TPE) / G. Dabrowski (CAN)
L. Kichenok (UKR) / A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) vs [WC] K. Boulter (GBR) / H. Watson (GBR)
N. Melichar (USA) / K. Peschke (CZE) vs D. Kasatkina (RUS) / G. Muguruza (ESP)
[4] B. Krejcikova (CZE) / K. Siniakova (CZE) vs J. Goerges (GER) / Ka. Pliskova (CZE)
Not Before 5:00 pm
S. Aoyama (JPN) / R. Olaru (ROU) vs E. Mertens (BEL) / D. Schuurs (NED)
