Kvitova charges past Paolini into Roland Garros third round

PARIS, France -- No.7 seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic earned the 25th match-win at Roland Garros of her career on Thursday, marching into the third round on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.

World No.11 Kvitova, whose best Roland Garros showing is a semifinal appearance in 2012, improved her win-loss record at the clay-court major to 25-10 with her 84-minute victory over 94th-ranked Paolini.

"Overall, I'm really happy how I handled it," Kvitova said in her post-match press conference. "It wasn't really easy. I was broken a few times, and I really had to put something else in those important points and really still be there mentally and be strong in those."

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"Really trying to play some rallies, as well," Kvitova continued. "Tried to go for the net, not that often, but when I was there, it was a good point for me. So I'm happy."

The two-time Wimbledon champion and former World No.2 continued to power through her early rounds in Paris this year, after missing the most recent edition in 2019 due to an arm injury. Kvitova fired 32 winners in the match, compared to Paolini's 12, and won 10 of 13 points when she ventured to the net.

However, Paolini extended rallies and games long past their breaking points, giving Kvitova all she could handle despite the seemingly straightforward scoreline. Kvitova had 20 break points in the match, but Paolini was able to boldly save 14 of them. The Italian, who got her first-ever Grand Slam main-draw win in the opening round, also broke Kvitova three times in the match.

"Definitely [Paolini] played really well," said Kvitova. "She really surprised me a little bit from the baseline. She really played fast, and she has talent."

Next up for Kvitova will be a third-round clash against either Polona Hercog of Slovenia or Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez.

In the early going, Kvitova gritted through long games on Paolini’s serve to build her lead via her power and depth of return. The Czech converted her third break point of the second game, after a Paolini double fault, to move ahead 2-0. Then, at 4-1, Paolini again saved three break points only to double fault once more on the fourth break point of the game, ceding the 5-1 advantage to Kvitova.

Things got dicier for the Czech as the opening frame progressed, with Paolini reading the booming Kvitova serve and groundstrokes more successfully, drawing errors with her speed and accuracy. Extracting forehand miscues from the Czech, Paolini broke for 5-2, then saved two set points in another protracted service game to hold for 5-3.

Kvitova served for the set for a second time in the next game, where back-to-back double faults gave Paolini a break point. Kvitova swung an ace out wide to save it, but a winning backhand pass gave Paolini a second chance. However, Paolini missed the return on that opportunity, and from there, Kvitova forced errors from the Italian to clinch the one-set lead on her third set point.

The second set was also complex, as Paolini continued to refuse to let Kvitova run away with the win. The Czech earned a hard-fought early break, firing a forehand return winner on her fifth break point of a grueling game to go up 2-1, but Paolini struck back immediately, forcing more errors from the seventh seed to level at 2-2.

The pattern repeated in the next two games as Paolini once again clawed back a break en route to 3-3. Kvitova then went up a break for a third time in a row, taking a 4-3 lead when a volley by the Czech forced Paolini to go for a passing shot that flew just long.

After five service breaks in a row, Kvitova fell behind 0-30 in the next game, and was in danger of allowing Paolini to reach parity once more. However, the Czech sturdied herself to ease to game point, where she forced a long error to quash the run of breaks and hold for 5-3. Kvitova closed out the clash in the following game, forcing a final error with a blistering service return.