Petra Kvitova booked her place in the semi-finals of the Rothesay International in Eastbourne on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Harriet Dart. The Czech needed an hour and 25 minutes for the win. Kvitova saved the only break point she faced while securing breaks on Dart’s serve twice during the match.
She won 73% of her first-serve points to Dart’s 66% and 66% of her second-serve points to Dart’s 46%. After her win, while talking with the press, Kvitova said, “I’m always trying to serve well; sometimes it’s working more, sometimes it’s not.
Today I didn’t have a weak game, so it was nice to have for sure, especially at the end of the match when it’s always tough to close it out”.
Rothesay International: Camila Giorgi stays under the radar
In the semi-finals, Kvitova will play another left-hander, Beatriz Haddad Maia.
The Brazilian reached her third straight semi-final on grass this year – after the Nottingham Open and Birmingham Classic – after receiving a walkover from her quarter-final opponent, Lesia Tsurenko. The Ukrainian qualifier suffered an injury to her right elbow which prevented her from contesting the match.
Meanwhile, Jelena Ostapenko ousted Tsurenko’s fellow countrywoman, Anhelina Kalinina in their quarter-final clash. The Latvian, who’s trying to retain her title in Eastbourne this year, won 6-3, 6-2 in 69 minutes.
Ostapenko won 73% of her first-serve points and almost 48% of her second-serve points. She also won almost 74% of return points on Kalinina’s second serve. Both players had 13 unforced errors each for the match but Ostapenko had 14 more winners than Kalinina’s 18.
Looking to reach the final of the Rothesay International, Ostapenko will now play 12th seed, Camila Giorgi. The Italian notched quite a straightforward win for herself against lucky loser Viktoriya Tomova, 6-2, 6-1 in just 64 minutes. Photo Credit: Petra Kvitova Twitter
