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Jule Niemeier began Thursday with an upset at the Mutua Madrid Open. The German pipped 10th seed Petra Kvitova 7-6(7), 6-1 in a match that was shy of the two-hour-mark by merely eight minutes. Even before heading into her opening-round match in the Spanish city, Kvitova had accomplished a milestone for herself.
The 2023 edition of the WTA 1000 event in Madrid’s the 100th such event of the Czech’s career. In fact, in her 99th tournament of this stature, at the Miami Open in March, Kvitova had gone on to win the title. However, those highs quickly came crashing down against Niemeier.
Kvitova’s 10 double faults proved to be one of the factors in her undoing in the match. The southpaw, who’s won this event three times before in her career, won only 28% of her second-serve points. Niemeier went on to win 74% of her first-serve points and 46% of her second-serve points.
In the first set, Niemeier saved a couple of set points before going up in the match but the second set unfolded way more quickly. She converted all four break points that came her way on Kvitova’s serve while conceding her serve once in the set.
The lone game that Kvitova won in the set was due to a break of Niemeier’s serve.
Mutua Madrid Open: Another day, another memorable win for Mirra Andreeva
Another left-hander, 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia also crashed out in the second round.
Mirra Andreeva who was responsible for Leylah Fernandez’s defeat in the first round took out the Brazilian in straight sets, 7-6(6), 6-3 after two hours and 11 minutes of play. Andreeva won 72% of her first-serve points to Haddad Maia’s 53% and finished the match with 92 points to the latter’s 82.
Meanwhile, Jelena Ostapenko outplayed Linda Fruhvirtova in their round-of-64 clash at the Mutua Madrid Open. The 19th seed Latvian who’d previously dropped two games in her first career meeting against the Czech teen in Dubai in February this year, lost three games in her match in this tournament.
After just 61 minutes, Ostapenko prevailed 6-0, 6-3 against Fruhvirtova. Photo Credit: Mutua Madrid Open Twitter 