Top seeds Iga Swiatek, Petra Kvitova reach Ostrava quarters

[September 23, 2021] No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland and No. 2 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic survived tough challenges in their opening matches at the J&T Banka Ostrava Open on Wednesday in Ostrava, Czech Republic.   

Swiatek outlasted Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4, while Kvitova dropped a second-set tiebreak before defeating Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

The sixth-ranked player in the world, Swiatek smashed four aces and won 28 of 37 first-service points (75.7 percent) to hold off Putintseva, who was one week removed from reaching the semifinals of the WTA event in Portoroz, Slovenia.

Kvitova, ranked No. 10 in the world, needed two hours and five minutes to best Potapova. Kvitova saved six of eight break points while converting five of nine of her own chances to break Potapova.

Anett Kontaveit of Estonia knocked off Spanish No. 9 seed Paula Badosa 6-3, 6-4, winning 26 of 32 first-service points (81.2 percent) along the way.

Wrapping up the first round of the bracket, Alison Riske of the U.S. rebounded from a tough second set and beat France's Fiona Ferro 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko cruised past Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-4, 6-0.

--Field Level Media

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.