Two time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has continued to have a subpar year at her beloved Wimbledon, as she fell out in the 2nd round. For Kvitova, seeded 12th at Montreal, the US series leading up to the final grandslam of the year has been a productive time in the season, so the Czech will try to find her form to make her push for Singapore.
Kvitova has started her campaign at Montreal with a 6-1 6-2 win over Polish qualifier Magda Linette. This performance could truly remind one of Kvitova of the past, playing her way to the No. 2 ranking with aggressive tennis from both serve and return. Kvitova has not faced a break point the whole match and won 81% of points after first seve, while Linette won only 25% of points after her 2nd serve. With this win over Linette in just under an hour, Kvitova moves to the second round where she will face one of the dangerous duo of Alize Cornet and Andrea Petkovic.
13th seed Samantha Stosur had, unlike Kvitova, a very good year so far, rising from No. 27 to No. 14 since the beginning of the year. The Australian has had solid results all year long, peaking with a semifinal at Roland Garros. Stosur was faced with a tough draw at Montreal, starting with a crazy match against Heather Watson. There were 20 break points in the match, mostly thanks to the fact that Stosur won 71% of points after Watson’s second serve. After this 7-5 6-3 win, Stosur will play Daria Kasatkina or Misaki Doi.
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine has been bumped up to 17th seed after the withdrawal of Serena Williams. She advanced to the second round past American qualifier Jennifer Brady, winning 6-2 6-4. Other notable players who started with a win in Montreal include Daria Gavrilova and Barbora Strycova. The biggest upsets of the day are Sloane Stephens losing to qualifier Camila Giorgi in two tiebreaks, Monica Puig falling to Naomi Broady, and Madison Brengle winning her crazy match over Ekaterina Makarova.
