St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy 2022: Petra Kvitova vs Irina-Camelia Begu preview, head-to-head & prediction

Match details

Fixture: (6) Petra Kvitova vs Irina-Camelia Begu

Date: 10 February 2022

Tournament: St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy

Round: Second round (Round of 16)

Venue: St. Petersburg, Russia

Category: WTA 500

Surface: Indoor Hardcourt

Prize money: $703,580

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video

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Petra Kvitova vs Irina-Camelia Begu preview

Petra Kvitova and Irina-Camelia Begu will lock horns in the second round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy in a repeat of their 2018 showdown at the same stage.

Kvitova, the sixth seed, raced past Jule Niemeier in her opening match. The Czech's power-packed game was firing on all cyclinders on Tuesday, as she needed just an hour and nine minutes to close out a 6-2, 6-1 win.

Having lost three of her four matches at the start of the year, Kvitova will be eager to carry the momentum from her first-round win deeper into the tournament.

Irina-Camelia Begu has never beaten Kvitova before.

Begu, meanwhile, has made a promising start to the season. The Romanian has a quarterfinal run at the Melbourne Summer Set as well as a top-20 win over Jessica Pegula under her belt.

Begu also made a solid start to her St. Petersburg campaign, dropping just four games in her first match against Zhang Shuai.

Petra Kvitova vs Irina-Camelia Begu head-to-head

Petra Kvitova leads Irina-Camelia Begu 5-0 in the head-to-head. The Czech beat the Romanian 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in the second round during her title run at the 2018 edition of the tournament.

Petra Kvitova vs Irina-Camelia Begu prediction

Kvitova will be eyeing a second title in St. Petersburg.

Given the lopsided head-to-head record, Kvitova will enter this second-round contest feeling confident about her prospects.

The Czech's serve and big groundstrokes have worked well in the indoor conditions in the Russian city. She maintained a positive winner-unforced error ratio in her win over Niemeier and looked very comfortable throughout the match.

Begu, for her part, also possesses a serve-oriented game that's well-suited to quick conditions. She was effective on her first serve in her opening round, winning an impressive 79% of the points.

Against an aggressive returner like Kvitova, the Romanian will need to find a way to protect her serve well. If she can keep the scoreboard close during the early stages, the pressure will fall back on the shoulders of the sixth seed.

That said, if Kvitova can hit the ball as cleanly as she did in her first match and keep the nerves in check, she should be able to eke out a win.

Prediction: Kvitova to win in two tight sets.