MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – World number two Petra Kvitova took a little bit of time to get warmed up in the blistering Melbourne heat before demolishing Vera Dushevina 6-2 6-0 in just over an hour last night to advance to the second round of the Australian Open.
The Wimbledon champion, who is the pundits’ favourite for the title at Melbourne Park, was broken in her first service game by the 25-year-old Russian, but then won the next 12 games in temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.
Dushevina had no answer to the tall Kvitova’s court coverage, punishing groundstrokes and execution of shots from nearly impossible angles. The Czech producing a highlight play with one backhand return of serve that was taken late and from outside the tram lines and blasted back across court, landing just inside the service box and pinging away.
Kvitova, who helped the Czech Republic to the Hopman Cup in Perth then made the Sydney International semi-finals before the year’s first grand slam began, next plays either Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro or Romania’s Irina Begu.