Kvitova survives Kontaveit in Cincinnati

Petra Kvitova survived a scare to advance to the second round of the ATP/WTA event in Cincinnati on Monday.

The Czech, seeded 14th, trailed rising star Anett Kontaveit 6-1 4-2 before recovering to win 1-6 7-6(2) 6-3 on Centre Court.

Kvitova, a Wimbledon winner in 2011 and 2014, will face either Sloane Stephens or Lucie Safarova in the second round.

Since returning to tennis at Roland Garros after sustaining severe hand injuries in a knife attack, Kvitova has, understandably, struggled for consistency.

She won the title in Birmingham in just her second event back, but in four other tournaments she has been unable to win consecutive matches.

She is yet to fall in the first round of any tournament in 2017, however.

DID YOU SEE? Sharapova quotes Serena: “I’ll never lose to that little b**** again”

“I remember when I was 21; it’s a little bit easier I think, just playing with no pressure and trying to play your best against good players on the big stages,” said Kvitova of Kontaveit.

“I know she’s playing well. I expected a tough match which it was, and after a set down and a break down, it wasn’t easy to come back.

“My coach said the chance will come, and I just had to wait, stay on my serve for the chance to break her. In the tiebreak, you’ll never know what’ll happened but I played quite good and in the third, you never really know, and it was just about a few points – I was happy it was on my side.”

Just two other women’s seed were in action on Monday; No.13 Kristina Mladenovic fell 6-0 7-6(6) to Australian Daria Gavrilova, while 16th seed Madison Keys outlasted compatriot CoCo Vandeweghe 6-4 3-6 6-3 in a rematch of the Stanford final.

Qualifiers has plenty of success; Camila Giorgi upset the in-form Katerina Siniakova 6-2 6-2 while Brazil’s Beatrice Haddad Maia did the same to Lauren Davis, by a scoreline of 6-3 6-2.

In an all-qualifier battle, American Taylor Townsend beat Olympic champion Monica Puig 3-6 6-3 6-2.

RELATED: Federer withdraws from Cincinnati

On the men’s side, 15th seed Sam Querrey was the lone seed in action on Monday in Mason; he thrashed fellow American Stefan Kozlov 6-3 6-0.

American wildcards Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe – both part of the ATP Next Gen group – won through to the second round in straight sets.

Veterans Fabio Fognini, Richard Gasquet, Ivo Karlovic and Feliciano Lopez all advanced; Karlovic was stretcthed to three sets by Czech Jiri Vesely while the rest moved on in straight sets.

Gasquet faces a brutal second-round assignment in the form of No.1 seed Rafael Nadal, against whom he’s 0-14.