And, staggeringly, she didn’t drop a point on serve when she was serving for the match at 5-0 in the second set.
Advertisement
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.
Kvitova now holds two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon, following wins in both 2011 and 2014. “I didn’t play a good first set and I knew it. I knew I could play much better than that and I was just focusing on the things that I can do rather than the balls that I missed”.
“It doesn’t matter the time or the score, just that I won the last point”.
Andy Murray, the 2013 champion, was set to face Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in the third match on Centre.
“We’ll see. I think that she’s really in the good way”. The Japanese managed to level the game to deuce but she couldn’t stop Kvitova from eventually breaking. Kvitova will go close again this year.
“Pretty much sums up my career, I guess”.
Federer, the seven-time champion at the All England Club, beat Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 on Centre Court.
It was the third so-called “double bagel” result of the women’s first round. The 33-year-old claimed four consecutive titles spanning the 2002 and 2003 campaigns, dubbed the “Serena Slam“, but will preserve her all-time great status if she takes all four Grand Slam triumphs in 2015. “I was really expecting a tough match because I saw a little bit when she played Venus Williams here previous year”, said 1.82-metre (six feet) tall Kvitova, who towered over the 1.55-metre (five feet, one inch) tall Nara, the smallest player in the world top 100.
Nadal, a two-time champion, coasted to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil on Court 1. For Bouchard, also a semifinalist at the Australian Open and French Open in 2014, it was the latest setback in a season full of them, including 12 losses in her past 14 matches.
“I think that every match with her is different”.
In keeping with Wimbledon tradition, Kvitova had the honour of playing the first Centre Court match on the second day as the reigning champion.
Elsewhere in the men’s draw on day two, 13th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had to dig deep for 7-6 6-7 6-4 3-6 6-2 victory over Gilles Muller.
Kvitova’s only dropped point on serve came on a double fault in the final game of the match. The atmosphere was unbelievable, so for me it was really nice to back. “In my head, it was no question I was going to play, even though I was advised not to”.
Women advancing to the third round included No. 10 Angelique Kerber, No. 15 Timea Bacsinszky, No. 20 Garbine Muguruza and No. 31 Camila Giorgi. “I mean, are you asking only me or are you asking other players, as well?”
Advertisement
“She has a risky game”, three-time Wimbledon champion Chris Evert said of Kvitova in a conference call in the middle of June.
