Petra Kvitová has secured her first victory since returning to the WTA Tour after giving birth to her son last year.
The two-time Wimbledon champion, who gave birth to her son Petr in July, made her comeback to the tour in February. After 15 months away from tennis, Kvitová had lost all four of her matches since her return. However, she broke her losing streak with a 7-5, 6-1 first-round win over Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu at the Italian Open in Rome.
“I was 95 percent sure I would never come back,” Kvitová admitted. “At that point, I had enough of tennis. I thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ so we decided to try for a baby. I didn’t say anything because it wasn’t certain. When I could finally play again after my pregnancy, it felt so good. I was laughing. Every shot I hit smoothly, I thought, ‘Wow, it’s still there.'”
In the second round, Kvitová will face Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, a three-time major finalist, who is seeded 27th.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Kimberly Birrell was defeated by Britain’s Sonay Kartel 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.
Birrell’s loss leaves three Australians remaining in the main draw. Ajla Tomljanović advanced to the second round after defeating compatriot Olivia Gadecki in the final qualifying round. Tomljanović will now face Varvara Gracheva of France.
Another Australian qualifier, Maya Joint, will play former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.
Daria Kasatkina, a Russia-born 14th seed who recently switched allegiance to Australia, has received a bye into the second round.
