Venus Wins to Set Up Clash With Kvitova at Qatar Total Open
February 11, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Venus Williams was a straight sets winner in the opening round match of the Qatar Total Open on Monday, defeating Petra Martic 6-2, 6-2 to set up a second round matchup with world number six Petra Kvitova (who received a first round bye). Head-to-head lifetime, Kvitova is 2-1 against Venus, with all three meetings having gone to three sets. In their last encounter at Tokyo last September, the match went to a third set tie-break before Kvitova pulled off the 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2) win..
Leading 4-0 in the first set, Venus let one service game go, falling behind 15-40 and Martic converted, but Venus held all seven of her other service games easily, at the loss of just six points, and she never faced another break point en route to her win.
Over the weekend, world number one Serena Williams withdrew from the Qatar Total Open 2014 due to a back injury sustained at the Australian Open, joining world number two Victoria Azarenka who also pulled out last week due to foot inflammation.
