(Tennis news) Petra Kvitova had won the title here in 2018, she was facing Jule Niemeier in their first career meeting. The left hander always had the control of the match from the beginning as she opened up with a 2 game lead and was constantly hitting return winners off Jule’s serve. Kvitova served four aces in a row to win the first set and took the first 3 games in the second set. The 31 year old went on to win the match in an hour and 9 minutes. Kvitova defeated Jule 6-2, 6-1.

In another big hitting match, Jelena Ostapenko only conceded 5 games in her first round match against Xinyu Wang. Ostapenko groundstrokes were too fast for Wang to cover as the Latvian took the first set without any setdowns. In the second set, the world number 25 was not able to hit her strokes similar to the opening set and was down 0-2. After breaking serve, Ostapenko was back in form as her strokes were again causing trouble and even hit a forehand down the line to avoid a 1-3 deficit. The former world number 5 served out the match with a rocket serve as her opponent could only touch it with the edge of her racquet. Ostapenko defeated Wang 6-1, 6-4.

Maria Sakkari dug her way out against Anastasia Potapova in the opening match at St. Petersburg Open. Potapova was exhausted after her energy was almost spent in the opening five games of the match as she hit 7 winners in the first three games. Sakkari was done 1-4 but took the opportunity as her opponent looked tired and won the next 5 games to take the set. In the second set, the top seed took the first two games while the Russian was slowly recovering and had three chances at 4-3 to break serve but lost them all to end the match. Sakkari defeated Potapova 6-4, 6-4.

"I managed to find a way to win, which is the most important thing, to give myself another chance tomorrow to play a lot better," Sakkari said afterwards. "I just found solutions when I was down in the score, just tried to make more balls than her and tried to make her feel a little uncomfortable than usual."

Tereza Martincova maintained her composure while pulling off a comeback against two time semifinalist Vera Zvonareva. Martincova’s patience was tested in the first set as the rallies were long and Zvonareva seemed to have the perfect winner at the end of the rally. The 27 year old looked out of place after losing the first set but in the second set she created chances with riskier shots and won 5 continuous games to level the score. In the final set, the 37 year old was down 0-2 and a point away from 0-3 when she hit a perfect forehand drop shot after pushing her opponent in the far end of the court. It was 4-4 as the junior player did not stumble, the world number 42 broke serve to take the lead and won the match. Martincova defeated Zvonareva 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Also read: Kontaveit faces uphill task at St. Petersburg Open