Second seed Petra Kvitova was on Thursday barely troubled in her first match at the Stanford Classic as the big-hitting Czech needed just an hour to demolish Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-2 in a second-round encounter.
The two-time Wimbledon champion looked back to her best as she builds strength following a career-threatening knife attack at the end of last year and did not face a single break point against her 111th-ranked Ukrainian opponent.
“I served very well, and I was just trying to play my game, which I always try, and sometimes that works, sometimes not,” Kvitova said after her victory in California, in which she hit 31 winners.
Kvitova is playing her fourth event since spending six months recovering from stab wounds to her left hand inflicted by an intruder at her home in the Czech Republic.
Kvitova suffered second-round losses at the French Open and Wimbledon, but now has the US Open, starting later this month, firmly in her sights.
Next up for the Czech is a quarter-final against eighth-seeded American Catherine Bellis, who advanced with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 victory over Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay.
All four second-round matches on Thursday were won in straight sets as the form book prevailed.
Russian fourth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat American Alison Riske 6-4, 6-0, while sixth seed Coco Vandeweghe thrashed fellow American Nicole Gibbs 6-0, 6-2.
Vandeweghe seems to be thriving under the guidance of coach Pat Cash.
“I think we’re out of the honeymoon,” she said jokingly, before explaining that Cash is a hard taskmaster.
All eight seeds advanced to yesterday’s quarter-finals, with top-seeded Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza opening proceedings against Ana Konjuh of Croatia.
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