Petra Kvitova competed well in her first match in 17 months but ultimately fell short of starting her post-pregnancy comeback with a win at the WTA 250 tournament in Austin.
On Tuesday, the two-time Grand Slam champion won the opening set against Jodie Burrage before the world No. 189 came back to win 3-6 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 28 minutes of play.
The Czech made a lightning start to the match, claiming back-to-back breaks for a 4-0 lead before serving out for the opener in the ninth game.
In the second set, Kvitova managed to recover from a break down late in the second set and tie it to four games apiece but then lost the next two games and the match went into a decider.
The third set was a similar story to the second set as the former world No. 2 failed to come up big in the deciding moments.
After missing out on four break points at 4-3 in the third set, Kvitova got broken in the ninth game as Burrage took a 5-4 lead before completing her comeback win in the following game.
Jodie Burrage© LTA/X – Fair Use
Kvitova made one thing clear before launching her post-pregnancy return
After it was announced that the two-time Wimbledon winner was given a wildcard for Austin, the 34-year-old admitted that she didn’t have big expectations for the early stages of her comeback and that she would be happy with a single win.
“My tennis is not at a level where I can win tournaments, certainly not at the moment. I will be happy if I win a match,” the Czech said earlier this month.
“It’s not like I finished yesterday. I would like to tell people not to hope for a miracle. We’ll see in time whether it will improve or not. Of course, I’m training, doing everything I can for it and we’ll see where it leads.”
Next on Kvitova’s schedule is Indian Wells, for which she was given a wildcard.
Tennis World USA