EIGHTH seed Anett Kontaveit has continued her stunning revival in 2021, winning her opening WTA Finals group match against her group’s top seed, Barbora Krejcikova. Kontaveit is the lowest seeded player at the Akron WTA Finals in Guadalajara, Mexico, but it did not stop her causing a massive boiler on day one.

Barbora Krejcikova vs. Anett Kontaveit

Coming into the most prestigious WTA Tour event, Kontaveit had won 10 straight matches, including enormous titles in Indian Wells (WTA 1000) and Moscow (WTA 500). Since August 22, Kontaveit has only lost two matches she has taken to the court in – one additional via walkover – and won 26 in that process. Her two losses have coming against Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur, two quality opponents.

In the WTA Finals match against the second seed Krejcikova, Kontaveit started strongly, producing four aces and capitalising off her serve. She was shaky at just a 41.4 per cent efficiency, but won every first serve point, and 52.9 per cent of her second serve. Unluckily, Krejcikova was even stronger, only dropping six points on serve for the entire match, but four of those came in one game, with the Estonian breaking on her only chance and taking the set 6-3.

The second set was very similar in the sense that Kontaveit only served at 50 per cent efficiency, but was still able to capitalise on serve. The eighth seed only dropped eight points for the set, winning 73.3 per cent of both her first and second serve points, while Krejcikova dropped off from her second serve, winning just 50 per cent, and it cost her. Kontaveit again broke once from two chances, and survived the entire match without facing a break points, to salute, 6-3 6-4 in an hour and 15 minutes.

“I’m definitely very thrilled to get the win, it was a very tough match,” Kontaveit said post-match. “I think I managed to win a lot of points on my first serves once they actually went in.

“During the summer I was on a bit of a losing streak, then I started working with Dmitry [Tursunov] and was really hoping to get a few wins. “I managed to win Cleveland, then it just sort of started rolling from there.

“I’ve been believing in myself a little bit more, and the game definitely has clicked from just getting more wins and playing a lot of tennis and really feeling comfortable, enjoying playing tennis.”

Karolina Pliskova vs. Garbine Muguruza

After the straightforward clash in the opening match, Czech and third seed Karolina Pliskova found a way to win against sixth seed Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. Coming back from a first set deficit, Pliskova fought through three sets to win 4-6 6-2 7-6, including a thrilling 8-6 in the deciding tiebreaker. Both players showcased their grit and will to win, but in the end there could only be one victor, and the second ranked Czech secured what her compatriot Krejcikova could not in the earlier match.

Muguruza won 71.4 and 66.7 per cent of her first and second serve points off an inaccuracte 53.8 per cent first serve efficiency, but only dropping the eight points meant she only conceded one break. Upon return, Muguruza broke twice from three chances, really punishing Pliskova with a 63.6 per cent success rate off her second serve return.

The second set saw both players step up from the service in terms of efficiency, but it was Pliskova’s turn to dominate the second serve. She only lost two points and served 16 of her 18 points off her first serve, and not conceding a break points. In a complete contrast to the first set, the Czech broke her Spanish opponent twice to level the match with a 6-2 set.

The deciding set saw Pliskova’s inefficiency return with six double faults at 62.7 per cent efficiency for only one ace, whilst winning 65.6 per cnet off her first serve. She saved four of five break points, and was able to break Muguruza once as well to even out the contest. Overall she won three more points in a set that went 105 points, which ultimately proved the difference in the deciding set tiebreaker.

WTA FINALS DAY 1 RESULTS:

[8] Anett Kontaveit (EST) defeated [2] Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) 6-3 6-4
[3] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated [6] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) 4-6 6-2 7-6

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