Former champion Petra Kvitova started strong at the Wuhan Open, taking barely an hour to sweep past Latvian rising star Jelena Ostapenko on Monday.
Despite what has been a difficult year overall for Kvitova, there have been some encouraging signs of late, and she continued this upward curve with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 win over Ostapenko.
"I think the first time I lost to her (Ostapenko) in Doha, where I wasn't playing well. I didn't feel as well mentally. My tennis wasn't really in the peak, which always kind of interrupted my confidence," said the Czech, who also won the tournament's inaugural in 2014.
After eventually subduing her teenage foe in an up-and-down opening set, Kvitova turned on the style, rattling off four straight games as she hurtled towards the finish line. The Czech will next face either Elina Svitolina or Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Three players retired half way through their matches, perhaps due to the sweltering weather. But to Kvitova, she did not see it as a problem on court.
"It doesn't matter, I think. In the car to site, my fitness coach told me it should be like 34 degrees and like 90% of humid as well. I'm like, Okay, that's good to know," said Kvitova.
"I was a bit worried, but nothing really happened on the court. I was feeling okay. I mean, I was just sweating a lot. But I didn't feel like very hot or something. I had ice on the court and it was pretty okay," she added.
15th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova walked away when she trailed Japan's Misaki Doi 6-7 (3), 6-4, 3-1. Another Latvian Anastasija Sevastova quit at 6-1, 4-1 lagging behind Yulia Putintseva, while Britain's Heather Watson gave up when she was 6-3, 2-1 after American Madison Brengle.
