Illustrative photo – Czech tennis player Petra Kvitová in the semifinals of the tournament in Miami, March 31, 2023.
Madrid – Tennis player Petra Kvitová finished in the 2nd round of the tournament in Madrid. The seeded ten lost to the German Jule Niemeier 6:7, 1:6 and will not build on the triumphs from 2011, 2015 and 2018 in Spain. The 23-year-old Niemeier will challenge the Belgian Elise Mertens or the Canadian Rebecca Marin in the next stage.
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The tenth player in the world, Kvitová, who last dominated the tournament in Miami, played her first match on clay this year. She missed the tournament in Stuttgart a week ago because of a sore leg. She made it to the second round in Madrid thanks to a free draw.
The native of Bílovka avoided six set points in the first set, but lost it in an hour and 17 minutes in a tie-break. The two-time Wimbledon champion could have regretted not serving the set at 6-5 or not taking advantage of two set points in a shortened game. She lost the tied tie-break after a fight with a ratio of 9:11.
In the second set, Niemeier already dominated. Kvitová did not hold any of her four serves and lost the duel in one hour and 54 minutes. She also paid for ten double faults in the match.
Three more Czech tennis players will be in action in Madrid today. Linda Fruhvirtová will challenge Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, Markéta Vondroušová will face Magda Linette from Poland, and Karolína Muchová will face Romania's Irina Begu.
Men's and women's tennis tournament in Madrid (clay):
Men (subsidy 7,705,780 euros):
Singles – 1st round:
Etcheverry ( Arg.) – Mannarino (Fr.) 6:4, 6:0, Thiem (Austria) – Edmund (Brit.) 6:4, 6:1, Shevchenko (Russia) – Wolf (USA) 6:4, 6:4, Safiullin (Russia) – Jarry (Chile) 6:2, 3:6, 6:3.
Women (subsidy 7,705,780 euros):
Singles – 2nd round:
Niemeierová (Germany) – Kvitová (10-CZE) 7:6 (11:9 ), 6:1, Sakkariová (9-Greek) – Rusová (Netherlands) 6:4, 6:4.
