Petra Kvitova thunders past Barbora Zahlavova Strycova to round three – BNP Paribas Open 2012
World number three, Petra Kvitova, makes a thunderous comeback to the tennis circuit after her illness. She crushed her compatriot, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 to begin her title campaign in Indian Wells.
A match that hardly lasted an hour witnessed some breathtaking shot making from the Czech tennis star who was in no mood to spare her compatriot at any stage is the match. It seemed like she was out there to prove her worth and show it to the world that she is one of the strongest contenders for the world number one spot.
She kicked-off the proceedings with an ace and continued to dominate the proceedings; broke serve in succession to take a resounding lead of 4-0 before gifting a consolation breakthrough to her opponent. She won another breakpoint in the following game that took the scores to 5-1 and with a help of an impressive serve hold, she gobbled up the first set triumph in quick succession.
With a blink of an eye, Kvitova took a lead of 3-1 in second set. She had already broken her opponent’s serve and was looking great to end this match in a hurry. However, a cameo from the inferior ranked Czech brought the set back into the balance.
Strycova broke serve in the fourth game to diminish the trail of breakpoints and registered a comprehensive serve hold to tie the scores at 3-3. It seemed like Kvitova was to be tested in the second half of the match but the third ranked Czech had other plans.
She picked up the momentum of the match and broke serve in the seventh game courtesy to a couple of jaw-dropping winners. She smacked two aces on the trot in the following game to stamp her authority and keep her lead intact.
Strycova had to hold her serve to stay in the set but she was up against the pumped up compatriot who was not in a mood to prolong the match further. She will try to repeat a similar performance against the American participant, Christina McHale in the next round.
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