Petra Kvitova trounces Polona Hercog to reach round two – US Open 2012
World number five, Petra Kvitova, gusted away the 21-year-old Slovenian, Polona Hercog, in the first round of the US Open Championship at New York. On the eve of Monday, both players locked horns for the first time in their professional
career and the 22-year-old Czech edged the match in straight sets 7-6(6), 6-1.
Hercog commenced the contest with a serve hold and her rival followed the footsteps. Both players managed to hold on to their respective serve games again and pushed the scores to 2-2. A swap of breakpoints further took the scores
at 3-3.
There was a bit of scare for the Slovenian youngster but she managed to survive the onslaught from the Czech star and continued to capitalize on her serves. Both players were meeting blow-by-blow and didn’t want to stoop to their
rival especially in the deep stages of the set.
It was a sublime performance at both ends but the set had to end in favour of one and the 22-year-old Czech star inched the first phase battle with a marvellous winner during the tie-breaker round. It was harsh on the Slovenian
professional who played impressively throughout the set.
The tables were turned upon the 65th ranked Slovenian when the left-handed Czech came out with an all-round onslaught in the second half of the match. Terrible mistakes, one after another were committed by the 21-year-old
Slovenian who was allowed no room at all to free her arms and play her natural game.
Kvitova won two breakpoints in a row that helped her to pile up a monumental lead of 5-1 just half an hour after the completion of a tight first set. No one expected such a one sided score line especially with the technique of
Hercog who is capable of registering upsets against the top seeded players like Kvitova.
No twist of luck was witnessed for the Slovenian who bowed down quite early in the second set to allow her opponent an easy entry into the second round draws. Petra Kvitova is scheduled to lock horns with the French star, Alize
Cornet, in the next playoffs.
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