Kvitova battles back after losing the first set, advances to second round
On day one of the French Open, we almost had a huge upset on our hands, as Petra Kvitova battled back after losing the first set to defeat qualifier Greet Minnen 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-1.
In set one, Kvitova was not her usual self, hitting 28 unforced errors, which included seven double faults in the set. Minnen was much stronger on the second serve, winning 54% of the points compared to Kvitova’s 33% on her own second serve, according to Infosys Match Centre.
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Although the second set was really close, as Kvitova was just one point away from losing the match, she was playing a lot better than in that first set. Kvitova led the set in winning percentage on both the first and second serve and hit 20 winners to go along with just 11 unforced errors. Both players had a break in the set, as Kvitova broke Minnen’s serve on her only chance, while Minnen had two chances to break in the set and converted the one time.
Set three was a completely different match, as Kvitova dominated Minnen to get off the court in just over two hours and 15 minutes and advance to the second round. In the set, Kvitova won 92% of the points when she made her first serve, and on the second serve, won 71% of the points. With how well Kvitova was serving in that third set, Minnen was unable to even get a look at a break point.
Kvitova was also dominate on the return in the third set, as that would lead to Kvitova breaking Minnen twice. Minnen won 64% of points on her first serve, but only won 22% of the points on her second serve, and because Minnen only made her first serve 55% of the time in the third set, Kvitova got a lot of looks at attacking the second serve.
Kvitova cut down the unforced errors even further in that third set, as she went from 11 in the second set to only five in the third. Kvitova also had eight winners, including one ace, to take the set 6-1 and advance to the second round.