Alexandra Dulgheru upsets Petra Kvitova in the opening round – US Open 2011
A stunning result for the tennis fans all over the world, as this year’s Wimbledon champion, the world number seven, Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic, crashed out of the opening round of the US Open, losing to the unseeded Romanian opponent, Alexandra Dulgheru,
on Monday afternoon.
Being played at the Louis Armstrong Stadium of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States, the contest ended up in sheer surprise for the local crowd, with the fifth seeded Kvitova suffering
a straight sets defeat at 6-7(3), 3-6.
Rated at number 48 in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) World Rankings, Dulgheru took one hour and thirty eight minutes of play to drive the fifth seeded Czech out of the Grand Slam tournament with ease. The Romanian absolutely manhandled the world umber
seven in the contest and gave her limited opportunities to get on top of her game.
Kvitova utterly failed to build up on her Wimbledon Championships breakthrough and the Czech has won just two matches since the Grand Slam. The 21-year-old Kvitova appeared in all sorts of confusions right from the beginning and her bewilderment was evidently
proved by her 52 unforced errors in the matchup.
“It’s something new for me,” Kvitova said of the stresses off carrying the title of Grand Slam champion into a tournament. “Everything is in the head. If you are thinking on court negatively it’s bad.”
The fifth seed was off to a decent start in the opening set and kept moving neck-to-neck with the Romanian opponent. Dulgheru excelled over Kvitova by clinching 20 out of 34 first serve points, with the Czech securing just 9 out of 18 to remain on the back
foot.
Both contests traded three serve breaks each in the opening set to take the scores to 6-6, enforcing a tie breaker round. Kvitova crumbled in the pressure situation in the decider and could reel just three points before losing the first set at 6-7(3). She
was off to an aggressive start in the second set, breaking the Romanian in the very first game but two cracking serve breaks from Dulgheru in the fourth and eighth game proved decisive for her.
Dulgheru will take on her fellow compatriot, Monica Niculescu, in the second round draws of the tournament on Thursday. Niculescu was successful against Patrica Mayr-Archleitner of Austria in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, in the opening round of the tournament.
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