Petra Kvitova revealed she tried “to play faster than Elena Rybakina” and also credited her serve for her opening victory at the Adelaide International 2. In the Adelaide 2 first round, Kvitova defeated reigning Wimbledon champion Rybakina 6-3 7-5.
Just a few months ago in October, Rybakina defeated Kvitova in Ostrava. Kvitova got her revenge in Adelaide as now the head-to-head between the two stands at 1-1. “I tried to play faster than Elena. She played really great [in Ostrava]; it was a good match and I know that she’s serving really well.
I was focusing on my serve and I was trying to wait for some chances to break her. My serve really worked well today, so that’s what I’m really happy [with]. We didn’t really have a lot of rallies, so it was about the serve and the first one, two points of the rally.
I’m glad that I was there for every shot,” Kvitova said after the win.
How Kvitova defeated Rybakina
The first break points of the match were seen in the fourth game, when Kvitova broke Rybakina for a 4-2 lead. Up by a break, Kvitova routinely held on to her serve the rest of the set to clinch the opener.
In the first set, a total of one break point was seen. Kvitova and Rybakina continued to serve great in the second set as not a single break point was seen in the first 10 games. Then, Kvitova earned the first break point in the 11th game and managed to convert to take a 6-5 lead.
Serving for the match in the 12th game, Kvitova closed out the match. Kvitova was absolutely impressive on her serve against Rybakina as she didn’t allow the Kazakh a single break point. Last week, Kvitova represented the Czech Republic at the inaugural United Cup.
There, she clinched two singles wins. Kvitova now owns a 3-0 record in 2023 and it has been a positive start to the season for her.
