Kvitova: ‘I thought I’m going to feel some pressure to defend title, but I don’t’ after Gavrilova win

Birmingham reigning champion Petra Kvitova moved to within three wins away from successfully defending the title after beating Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-2 6-2 in the second round today.

The match was mostly played to the pace of the star from the Czech Republic, who made her intentions known from the very beginning as she went for her shots and made sure that she tested the quality defensive skills and ability of Gavrilova time after time. The Australian really struggled on serve at the beginning, hitting four double faults within her first two service games, which left her a huge mountain to climb and that proved to be her achilles heel as it has been for most of the 2018 season. Gavrilova, currently at No. 26 in the world, really made a rod for her own back at times as she fell away to a 0-4 deficit very early in the first set, and that was mostly down to winning points on her second serve, which was at 0/6 after two service games and only slowly improved for the rest of the set. Gavrilova actually leads the WTA season for number of double faults (220) in all the matches she’s played this season and the windy conditions certainly did not help her in that respect.

Kvitova mostly did not struggle with her timing, executing well off the ground and she understood her limitations in the blustery conditions and most importantly she made that adjustment to her game. She dropped her serve at 0-4 in the first set, but she put together a good run of games to take the set 6-2 by constructing the points wisely and then surprising Gavrilova with the first heavy blow in the rally and that worked magnificently today.

“Well, I think the conditions were pretty tough for both of us today. Both of us, we did some double faults today. The serve was not really working the perfect way probably, especially on the grass which is kind of the big key every time. So, yeah, it was a bit tricky today. The wind was changing directions, so it wasn’t really easy kind of, like, how to put the ball in. Overall, I think I’m pretty pleased with the game. I tried to not hit it, like, close to the lines but somewhere to the court. Sometimes the winds, that’s paying off in a way.”

Gavrilova replied and kept the match much more competitive in the first half of the second set as she connected with several beautifully-timed passing shots to keep the score running for herself, but she lost that confidence in her game when the match reached its conclusion, getting broken for 2-4 and ultimately that was the end of her fight as Kvitova cruised through and continued her memorable run here in Birmingham.

The two-time Wimbledon champion and defending Birmingham title winner revealed that although the feeling of returning to this event feels much different to when she played last year, the pressure and expectation does not seem to be there, which she explained in much more detail:

“I always feel kind of happiness when I’m playing on the grass actually. I do feel it here as well. Probably I thought I’m going to feel some pressure to defend the title, but I don’t. It’s kind of nice to have those feels and be more relaxed, which I do not expect. So probably that’s why I’m kind of not really stressing too much about matches and the nerves in the matches. So that’s good. Probably the mindset is just a little bit different. I’m taking it kind of not like a practice, but to see what I can improve and what’s, like, is working already. That’s probably how I’m, like, thinking on the court right now.”

Overall, it was a confident performance from Kvitova, who is continuing to show why she is the form player on tour in 2018. She exceeded her expectations on the clay and is showing perhaps the most consistent side to het tennis by producing great tennis on a variation of surfaces. With that being said, her form on grass is no real surprise and whenever Kvitova makes that first step and takes that first glance on a grass court everything seems to click together. Her belief when approaching this tournament the second time around is enough reason to feel she could well be on her way to a 2nd title at this event.

Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images