Petra Kvitova’s hard fought 1st round Indian Wells victory over Yulia Putinseva takes her winning stretch to 14. Her last loss came to Andrea Petkovic at the Australian Open 2018.
Petra Kvitova is playing her best tennis from behind
Noticeably, the last three victories, which include top ten conquests over Caroline Wozniacki and Garbine Muguruza, have seen the Czech conqueror lose the first set.
This is something that will increasingly start to play on the mind of her opponents. Against Muguruza in the final in Doha, the Spaniard was in cruise control first set. Then, like a boxer measuring a punch, in the middle of an intense rally, the Czech cheekily slips in a drop shot. Whilst it wasn’t fruitful in terms of that particular point, you could see the worry on Muguruza’s face. She knew what Kvitova was up to. This comes with increasing confidence that Kvitova will sacrifice points to put doubt in her opponent’s mind. Then the drop shot becomes a weapon based on her previous practice.
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A third Wimbledon title is definitely at the forefront of Petra Kvitova’s mind, even this early in the season.
American Amanda Anisimova stands in the way of a 15 match winning stretch
Sixteen-year-old American, Amanda Anisimova, faces the match of her fledgeling career in the next round against Kvitova. Home crowd support will need to be in abundance if she is to continue her good recent form. Indian Wells has been kind to this exciting prospect so far with two wins against Pauline Parmentier and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. These wins come alongside a run to the semis at the Indian Wells 125k even last week.
We will definitely be seeing a lot more of Anisimova, but it is a big ask for her to take down an in-form Petra Kvitova.
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Navratilova and Graf’s record a long way away, but it’s a target
It’s a little too early to start getting excited about a record-breaking winning streak. Navratilova and Graf currently share that record on 45 wins in a row. Serena Williams has the most wins in terms of players currently on tour with 33. In an increasingly competitive women’s game, this will take some beating. Naturally, Petra Kvitova won’t be thinking about that, but what an achievement that would be for a player to reach those heights!
Indian Wells draw opening up nicely for Petra Kvitova
The early casualties of Muguruza and Johanna Konta sees the draw opening up a little. Petra Kvitova will simply take each match as it comes, but she must be one of the players to beat in Indian Wells, given her current form.
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