Top seed and defending champion Venus Williams was upset in the opening round of the Cellular South Cup on Tuesday by Czech qualifier Petra Kvitova. Earlier in the day, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, Tatiana Golovin, was beaten by American Bethanie Mattek.
Defeating the six-time singles Grand Slam champion 2-6 6-4 6-3, Kvitova won only the second WTA Tour match of her career. Additionally, the 17-year-old, ranked 143rd, played in only her 14 career WTA match.
“She had a good serve and she was left-handed,” world No.8 Williams said. “She mixed it up really well. I’m not happy about the result of the match, but she played well.”
In the other upset, Mattek, a 22-year-old ranked 131st, played one of the best matches of her career defeating France’s world No.13 Tatiana Golovin 6-4 6-4.
“Honestly, I was really seeing the ball really well and I was there to every shot she hit,” Mattek said. “I just stuck to my game plan. My goal was to get on top and get as many points right away as I could. I just came out firing.”
