The soaring temperatures at the Wuhan Open failed to derail Petra Kvitova’s and Dominika Cibulkova’s title bid as they both triumphed in their first round matches.
14th seed Kvitova required only 70 minutes to dismiss Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-1. The two-time Wimbledon champion produced six aces and 18 winners to seal the win in what was the fourth meeting between the two players on the tour this year. Earlier in the season, Kvitova lost back-to-back matches to Ostapenko before getting her revenge at the US Open and now Wuhan.
Kvitova says the key to turning her head-to-head around vs. Ostapenko was getting the timing her JO’s second serve to attack it. Took time.
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) 26 September 2016
Following her match, Kvitova also shed light on her coaching trial with Belgium’s Wim Fissette, who has previously worked with Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka. The Czech stated that her trail with Fissette was only during the last weeks Tokyo Open and stated that she hopes to find a permanent coach during the off-season.
Cibulkova endured a tough first round test against French qualifier Alize Cornet. In what was a two-hour roller coaster, the Slovakian overcame a second set blip to edge out Cornet 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
Next up for Cibulkova will be Laura Siegemund, who defeated Danka Kovinic in three sets on Monday. It will be the first encounter on the tour between the two since the 2004 French Open when Siegemund triumphed in the second round of qualifying.
The duo of triumphs for the seeds comes as three players were forced to retire from their matches in the sweltering Wuhan heat with temperatures reaching 35 degrees. Great Britain’s Heather Watson complained of dizziness before ending her match against Madison Brengle. Watson’s retirement comes just days after she dismissed health concerns following a scare at the US Open.
“I got the blood test results and they are all fine, I am very healthy. I just think it was a mixture of things, maybe stress and anxiety and the heat is always a factor.” She told reporters on Saturday.
Anastasija Sevastova called it quits after trailing 1-6, 1-4, to Yulia Putintseva due to an unknown health issue. Finally, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova withdrew in the third set of her match against Japan’s Misaki Doi.
The trio of retirements comes a day after two Belinda Bencic and Timea Bacsinszky retired from their opening matches due to injury and illness.
