Australian Open 2016: Daria Gavrilova turns on style to oust sixth seed Petra Kvitova
AUSTRALIAN tennis’ Energiser bunny Daria Gavrilova has eliminated dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to advance to uncharted grand slam territory.
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AUSTRALIAN tennis’ Energiser bunny Daria Gavrilova has eliminated dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to advance to uncharted grand slam territory.
Gavrilova, who became an Australian citizen in late November, had never gone beyond round two in five previous attempts at the majors before her landmark 6-4 6-4 success at the Australian Open.
The WTA’s 2015 Newcomer of the Year next meets French 28th seed Kristina Mladenovic on Friday.
“I’m just more experienced (and) I’m not as overwhelmed anymore. I was a lot calmer coming into this match tonight,” Gavrilova said.
“Coming into this match I was pretty confident that I could beat Petra. I knew that she didn’t have enough matches before.
“She didn’t even play anything before Oz Open, so I thought I was a good chance.”
Gavrilova is making a habit of beating former or current top-10 players.
She cut down Maria Sharapova, Lucie Safarova, Sam Stosur, Sara Errani, Ana Ivanovic, Timea Bacsinszky, Sara Errani and Belinda Bencic in her breakthrough season last year.
Gavrilova twice fell a break behind seventh-ranked Kvitova in the opening set, but the 21-year-old – dubbed the female answer to Lleyton Hewitt – wore her opponent down to win in 89 minutes.
She was close to toppling Kvitova at China’s Wuhan Open in September, but could not close out a 5-3 third-set advantage.
There was another slip-up in the return bout as the former world junior No.1 failed to serve out the match before rebounding to break the Czech star a fifth time in the next game.
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The straight-sets victory continued Gavrilova’s rapid ascent since returning from a serious knee injury in mid-2014.
Her ranking was a lowly 368 then, but she entered the Melbourne Park fortnight at No.39 and two weeks separated from partnering Nick Kyrgios to Australia’s first Hopman Cup title in 17 years.
“My preparation couldn’t be any better than what it was. Perth (Hopman Cup) was an unreal experience,” Gavrilova said.
“Obviously having those four matches under my belt, it couldn’t be better, and I’m pretty confident now.”
No love was lost between the players early as Kvitova in particular tried to assert herself not only with her groundstrokes, but also some elongated screams after big strikes.
That tension peaked late in the first set, when Gavrilova pounced on a volley and inadvertently hit an unimpressed Kvitova.
The defeat extended a rough start to the year for Kvitova, who withdrew because of illness from Shenzhen and skipped Sydney for the same reason.
“I think everything was wrong. (Gavrilova) played a really solid game; she played what she needed,” Kvitova said.
“I just wasn’t able to stay in the rally and play more shots. I felt a little bit tired and without the timing on the court, so I was missing easy shots and not doing what I should.”
Originally published as Australian Open 2016: Daria Gavrilova turns on style to oust sixth seed Petra Kvitova
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