ADELAIDE : Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova ousted the current holder of the All England Club title Elena Rybakina 6-3 7-5 in the opening round of the Adelaide International 2 on Monday to continue her winning start in the new season.
Preparing for her 15th visit to the Australian Open where she was a finalist in 2019, Czech Kvitova pounced on her one break opportunity to claim opening set in just over half an hour.
The second set of the contest was just as tight with no break points until the 11th game when Kvitova earned two and converted the second for a 6-5 lead with a blistering forehand return.
The 32-year-old, who beat world number three Jessica Pegula while representing her country at the United Cup last week, served out for the match to set up a second round clash with American Shelby Rogers or China's Qinwen Zheng."I was trying to wait for my chance to see if I could break her," said the world number 16. "My serve worked really well today, so I'm happy with that.