News & Media

Qualifier stuns Sharapova as Kvitova wins in three

7 January 2020, by brisbaneinternational.com.au

Maria Sharapova of Russia plays a backhand in her match against Jennifer Brady of the United States in the first round of the 2020 Brisbane International. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

UPDATED: In a night of contrasting fortunes for former Brisbane champions, Maria Sharapova is out in the opening round, with Petra Kvitova living to fight another day.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova – now languishing at No.147 in the rankings, following an injury-marred season – was on fire early before falling to US qualifier Jennifer Brady under lights.

The 24-year-old Brady had lost her only prior meeting with the Russian almost two years ago but levelled the ledger with a 3-6 6-1 7-6(3) victory.

It set a showdown with Australian world No.1 Ashleigh Barty in the second round.

“I would say throughout the whole match, I would say, I was just focusing on starting each point fresh, trying to just compete on every single point, leave it all out there, just try to win every point that I could,” Brady said.

“I was showing a lot of good energy, intensity, and, yeah, I would say the cliche quote, did a lot of hard work in the off-season …I did, like everyone else, I’m sure.

“I think I could go for another five hours. So yeah, really happy with my performance.”


Sharapova had not played a competitive match since falling to Serena Williams in the first round of the US Open last August.

And it was only in the deciding tie-break where the rust really began to show.

With Brady leading 4-3, Sharapova hit back-to-back double faults to give the American three match points.

Only one was needed as the Russian netted a forehand volley to end the showdown after two hours and 16 minutes.

Still Sharapova was able to draw the positives.

“Yeah, one of them being that I showed up and I played and it’s been a while,” she said. “And I think I hit, in total today, over 160 serves, which is a lot for me, considering I haven’t played in a few months.

“So, yeah, it’s definitely not the result I would have wanted because I would have loved to play another match, another opportunity, but that’s this game.”


Dual major winner, Kvitova, overcome a slow start to storm home against familiar foe Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The Czech fifth seed claimed her eighth triumph from 12 meetings with the Russian, 2-6 6-1 6-0.

She had beaten Pavlyuchenkova en route to the 2011 Brisbane title before losing to her two years later in a round of 16 clash at the Queensland Tennis Centre.

With new coach Sam Sumyk in her corner, it was the 29th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova who made the more impressive start.

But in humid twilight conditions, Kvitova quickly found her range, finishing the match with 34 winners – double her opponent’s count.

“I think I played pretty solid, pretty good, if I’m not counting the first set,” Kvitova said. “But in the end of the first set, I think I find a little bit of me, finally.

“And I just stayed there and [stayed] positive, which makes the difference afterwards, which it was [the] first two, three games in the second set – that was kind of the point when the match turned around.”

The Czech next faces Russian qualifier Liudmila Samsonova, an earlier three-set winner over Sloane Stephens.


Sixth seed Kiki Bertens overcame a second-set blip from aggressive Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska to reach the second round on Tuesday afternoon.

The Dutchwoman advanced 6-4 1-6 6-3 to set a clash with Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, a 6-4 6-1 winner over Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei.

“It was really tough,” Bertens said. “I think today was solid. I think my movement, again, was good.

“So I’m really proud of that overall and just hanging [in] there, keeping as many balls back on the court and yeah, that paid off in the end.

Having risen as high as No.4 in the rankings last May, the 28-year-old is determined to make deeper runs in Australia.

“I’ve never played really well in Australia, so hopefully this year that can change,” she said.

“I think my game really developed on the hard courts, I’m playing a little bit more aggressive, my movement is much better than before. So, yeah, I see that I can really play well on hard courts as well.”