Monday, January 23, 2012

Kvitova advances with Ivanovic scalp

Updated January 23, 2012 19:16:27

Reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova downed Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Monday.

After cruising through the first set Kvitova held off a late fight-back from the Serb to win 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) in 85 minutes in the first match of the day in the Rod Laver Arena.

The tall left-hander broke Ivanovic twice in the first set and once in the second, but was herself broken when serving for the match at 5-4.

Ivanovic held her next service game to love as Kvitova began to look shaky, but the second seed produced some big serves to take the set into a tie-break.

And Kvitova took charge of in the tie-break, quickly opening a 6-2 lead and sealing a place in the quarter-finals when an Ivanovic backhand hit the bottom of the net.

The Czech world number two hit more than twice as many winners as Ivanovic - 30 to 14 - which proved the difference between the two players.

"It was quite a hard match at the end of the second set," she said, adding that she was happy to be off the court early on a typically hot Melbourne day.

"I think I was quite lucky I played my match at 11:00am. It's hot, but we are in Australia so we are ready for it."

Kvitova has now reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne for the second year in row and will next play Sara Errani after the Italian defeated China's Zheng Jie 6-2, 6-1.

AFP

Tags: australian-open, tennis, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted January 23, 2012 12:42:03


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