2011 Wimbledon champion, WTA End of Year Champion and Player of the Year Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic is ranked number 2 in the world. Never mind, that is just a statistic, and in most peoples minds she is currently the worlds best.
A victory in the Australian Open this year would bring her a second Grand Slam singles title and the official crown as world number one. Round one presented no obstacle to speak of, Petra only requiring to surrender a pair of games to book today's encounter with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro. Carla has made a significant rise back through the rankings to a level that could give Petra slightly greater concern than her first round, but the left-hander would not have lost any sleep, at least not for that reason.
Set one saw tentative steps taken by the Czech champ, but never at any stage did she appear under pressure from Suarez Navarro. Serves were held for the initial period - i.e. the first two games - then it evolved into a Petra exhibition with a few highlights from the support act.
With her forehand down the line causing a wealth of riches for Kvitova and an equal amount of torment for Carla, the set rolled inevitably on to an end entirely satisfactory for Eastern Europe.
Carla picked off one more game on the way to being swamped 6-2 by Petra, humble as always, a characteristic she must have picked up from Serena.
The tide turned in the same way the wind changed in the Wozniacki match the day before. Set two became a Spanish benefit. Breaking a surprised Kvitova in the opening game, Carla spread that surprise throughout the crowd and turned it into shock and horror. Of course that break would be set straight with one of Petra's own designs wouldn't it? No came the reply from somewhere in the ether. The Spanish pocket dynamo stuck hard to her task, and repelled everything that the number two seed could throw at her. At 2-5 we still believed that Petra would be able to hold serve and pressure Carla into error while serving for the set. However, that scenario failed to eventuate, with a combination of accuracy from Spain and inadequacy from the Czech Republic conspiring to finish the set with a second break of the Kvitova serve.
6-2 to Suarez-Navarro and the privilege of serving first in the decider. Memories of the upset that Carla inflicted upon Venus some years ago came flooding back and betting markets around the world were in a flux.
The world according to Petra continued spiraling out of the galaxy when Carla proceeded to hold serve then break for a 2-0 lead at the beginning of the third set. Four successive games for Suarez-Navarro was the limit for Kvitova to handle and so she elected to win four of her own in a row. A remarkable turn around from a player seemingly out of the running with no ideas of what to do to solve the problem.
Serving at 4-3 Petra had worries after losing the first two points. However, two of the best backhands for the match at the most important time eased the concern and the finish line closed in.
Champions manage to win the matches where their best tennis has not been on show, and despite about half a century of unforced errors, Petra Kvitova remains alive in this year's Open, and to increase her odds of winning the tournament based on today would be a mistake.
Kvitova 6-2 2-6 6-4
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