Australian Open 2021 - Petra Kvitova surprisingly knocked out by Sorana Cirstea in three sets
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 10/02/2021 at 04:32 GMT
Sorana Cirstea moves into the third round after knocking out Petra Kvitova. The 2021 Australian Open is live on Eurosport. Watch every match live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and eurosport.co.uk. You can download the Eurosport app for iOS and Android now. The opening Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne runs from February 8 until February 21.
Petra Kvitova
Image credit: Getty Images
Sorana Cirstea produces a surprising 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 victory over 2019 Australian Open finalist Petra Kvitova on a sun-drenched Margaret Court Arena.
The result was Cirstea's best win in nearly four years and her biggest win in a grand slam for nine years.
Having gone a break up in the opening game, Kvitova ended up making 18 unforced errors to hand the unseeded 30-year-old the first set. Kvitova’s serving proved a problem all set, too, with a 50 per cent first serve percentage.
After a kit change after the first set, Kvitova found her rhythm and broke the Cirstea serve three times to set up an enthralling decider.
And it was Cirstea, who reached the quarter-finals of the Grampians Trophy last week, who came out on top, breaking the Kvitova serve in games one, three and six en route to a comfortable 6-3 set and a place in the next round.
The Romanian ranked 68 in the world will play another Czech - Marketa Vondrousova – in the third round.
Cirstea: Very happy after hard quarantine
“I’ve had a lot of matches against Petra and she’s an amazing player," she said post-match. "She hits the ball so hard and it took me a while to adjust to the game but once I was in there I felt that I could beat her and I felt quite confident. I’m really happy and very happy with this win.
“In the second set she stepped up a bit and I backed off and I think today was a matter of who took control of the point. In the second I played too defensive but once that was over I tried to get back closer to the line and to try to dictate the point and it worked.
“The main thing right now is recovery. I was one of the few in hard quarantine so right now playing two hours in 30 degrees heat takes a bit more out of me than normal but it’s impressive to come out of quarantine for 15 days without hitting a ball and be able to compete the way I did today. I did not expect it."
- - -
A head-turning offer for head-turning tennis. One-month premium subscription for just 99p on the Eurosport app and eurosport.co.uk.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
/images.sports.gracenote.com/images/lib/basic/geo/country/flag/large/2244.png)
/images.sports.gracenote.com/images/lib/basic/geo/country/flag/large/2240.png)