Petra Kvitova followed up her 35-minute first round win over Kiki Bertens on Tuesday with another swift victory at Wimbledon on Thursday, beating Kurumi Nara in just 58 minutes.
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Kvitova finally lost a point on her own serve in the sixth game, courtesy of a double-fault, but soon wrapped up the win with a huge serve that Bertens barely got her racquet to.
“I have to say ‘Sorry’ to them” for such a short match Tuesday, Kvitova joked.
“There are so many great opponents here so I still have to focus on myself, that’s the most important thing”, she added.
Second seed Federer, the seven-time champion, was to face Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia, who he beat at the French Open this year; 2013 victor Murray was to take on Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, while Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion, had won the first two sets against Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci as of press time last night.
To giggles from the predominantly male press, an unfazed Kvitova replied “I think that for normal women, they know about [the issue]”, the Huffington Post United Kingdom reported. “So always is very emotional when you hit some good shots in this attractive club”.
The biggest threat to Kvitova’s bid for a third Wimbledon crown will come from world number one Serena Williams, who is seeded to meet her in the final.
“I think it was a really tough decision for me to miss the two big tournaments during March”. I really love to play here. “I’m just glad I won”.
“She has a unsafe game”, three-time Wimbledon champion Chris Evert said of Kvitova in a conference call in the middle of June.
In contrast, Kvitova has never gone beyond the semi-finals at any of the other grand slams – so it is little surprise she has embraced being back at Wimbledon 12 months after her ruthless rout of Eugenie Bouchard in the final.
There is no doubt that the Czech player has the ideal game for grass but a first round defeat in Eastbourne last week underlines that frailties remain.
Looking back at her performance, Nara said, “I was able to play aggressively from the second set”.
The second seed needed only 35 minutes for a 6-1, 6-0 win over the Dutchwoman on Centre Court.
“If we have to play the match or [do] training or something, it’s hard”.
She tells me that her period has fallen during major tournaments for the past six years – and last year she had to play a four hour match in the middle of it. Murray replied. “Like, when you walk through the front door, you go, “Oh, I had a great day today”?”
“Pretty much sums up my career, I guess”.
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Her comments even led former British number one tennis player Annabel Croft to admit that periods have: “Always been a taboo subject”.
