Tennis: Kvitova off to winning start in Madrid

Kvitova kick-started her title defence at the Madrid Masters yesterday with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Marina Erakovic.

MADRID: Czech Petra Kvitova kick-started her title defence at the Madrid Masters yesterday with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic. The third-seeded Wimbledon champion, who defeated Victoria Azarenka in straight sets to lift the 2011 trophy, went through into the second round in 67 minutes, firing five aces and producing 28 winners. Erakovic, the number 39 who has lifted her game in recent months with a Memphis final and semi-final showing last week on clay in Budapest, was broken five times. Meanwhile, American ninth-seed Serena Williams started out with a victory over Russian Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-1 and Czech Andrea Hlavackova beat Australian Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-4. Lucie Hradecka beat China’s Peng Shuai 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2012.