Wimbledon: Petra Kvitova races past Aliaksandra Sasnovich into round three

London [UK], July 7 : The No.9 seeded Petra Kvitova stormed into the third round of the ongoing Wimbledon 2023 for the ninth time with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Petra Kvitova extended her winning streak to seven after dropping just four games to claim a third-round spot, clinching a victory over Sasnovich in a match that lasted for 74 minutes.

Kvitova delivered 25 winners, including five aces, against 17 unforced errors to maintain scoreboard control for the most part.

Kvitova will next play qualifier Natalija Stevanovic, who defeated lucky loser Tamara Korpatsch 7-5, 7-5 in the longest straight-sets match of 2023 thus far at the tour level.

She only dropped serve twice, the first time in the first game of the second set while she was up a break in the first set and the second time when she was winning 83% of her first serves. She quickly broke Sasnovich's back both times after shaking off the lapse.

With numerous of her deflected baseline winners, Kvitova elicited gasps from the audience. She also displayed her skill in the forecourt, winning eight of nine net points.

Sasnovich had her moments of excellent pace redirections as well, but she was unable to juggle play with her drop shot, which has frequently worked effectively for the World No. 69. She chose to challenge Kvitova's strength instead, and as a result, her 11 victories were balanced by 20 unforced errors.

"Of course, I was aware of it. But every match with her I had in my mind. I beat her in Sydney, was a big fight in Indian Wells I think last year. Probably knew what I should expect from her game, of course. Not nice memories of the Centre Court against her. But I turned it around today, so I'm happy that I won basically," Kvitova was quoted as saying by WTA.com.