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Petra Kvitova has tumbled out in the second round at Wimbledon, falling to Russian fellow-lefty Ekaterinka Makarova 7-5, 7-6(5) late on Saturday afternoon.
In the last of the rain-interrupted second-round singles matches to finally reach a conclusion it was Makarova whose steadiness and defensive skills proved decisive on No.2 Court.
Rain stopped play on Friday after the Russian snared the opening set when Kvitova angled a volley narrowly wide, and a slew of stop-start rain delays would again drag out the encounter on Saturday.
A set point for Kvitova to level the match went begging at 5-4 with the Russian serving and, despite seeing a 5-2 lead in the tie-break whittled back to level pegging, Makarova took it on two final errors from the Czech’s racket to move through to a third round clash with No.24 seed Barbora Strycova.
“All this week I’m waiting for two days, my first match and here the same, so many rain delays, so I’m so happy to come through and I’ve beaten the past champion twice on grass now,” Makarova said, in reference to a 2012 victory at Eastbourne.
“On grass especially, she’s so tough. Maybe in the end of each set I was a little more aggressive. I was trying to be solid... she’s hitting everything so hard so you need to concentrate every ball. I was trying to make her move because when she’s running it’s tougher to hit that hard.”
I still hope that the ups can come soon... I'm still working hard
Kvitova, who had not reached the second week of a Grand Slam since last year’s US Open, had her chances, clocking 26 winners to her opponent’s 12 but coming unstuck with 25 unforced errors to the more consistent Makarova’s seven.
It added to a frustrating season for the former world No.2. “I think the last couple of months, a lot of things [have happened] in my life,” Kvitova said. “I just think that I need the time to get used to everything.
“It's still up and down, but the ups are not as great as... maybe last year or the years before. But I still hope that the ups will come soon. I'm still, you know, working hard and still believe that everything can just turn around. I just really need to be more confident on the court.”
Following a second round defeat at this year’s Australian Open, Kvitova and her long-term coach David Kotyza parted company and she subsequently appointed former doubles specialist Frantisek Cermak.
It is a transition she admits has not yielded immediate results. But, time is on the 26-year-old’s side. “I’ve been with David for seven years, so something new with Franta now,” she said. “It just definitely [takes] time. I don't think that everyone can show you the result through... two months.
“We'll see now. The main goal is Olympics. That's my motivation right now.”
