Kvitova teaches Anisimova how to take an opponent out of her game

For tennis players, “every day is different,” Jimmy Connors used to say. If 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova didn’t know that before this weekend, she knows it now. As brilliantly—spectacularly, perfectly—as everything went for her in her upset set win over Aryna Sabalenka on Friday, that was exactly how horribly everything went for her in her 59-minute, 6-2, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Petra Kvitova on Sunday.

Kvitova had lost to Anisimova in their only previous meeting, in Indian Wells last March, and she was obviously prepared not to let it happen again. From the start, she gave her young opponent a lesson in the fine art of how to take an opponent out of her game. Whatever Anisimova likes to do, that’s what Kvitova wouldn’t let her do.

Against Sabalenka, Anisimova dominated the rallies, flicking winners into the corners seemingly at will. Kvitova’s answer? Don’t let Anisimova get into rallies. She reduced the match to a battle of serves and returns, and never allowed Anisimova to find even the slightest bit of rhythm from the baseline.

On her serve, the Czech put the hammer down by relentlessly using her lefty slice into both courts—but especially, of course, into the ad side. Anisimova could never get a clean look at a backhand return in her strike zone, and she never found a way to counteract that serve. Does she own a slice backhand return? If not, this match is a sign that she should work on acquiring one. Kvitova made 86 percent of her first serves, won 83 percent of her first-serve points, won 60 percent of her second-serve points, and didn’t face a break point.

She was just as proactive in her return games. Kvitova attacked Anisimova’s serve relentlessly, driving the ball deep and down the middle to start, and then, as her confidence grew, into the corners for scalding winners. Kvitova used her lefty-ness to brilliant effect in general, and Anisimova had no answer for her hooking crosscourt forehand.

As for Anisimova herself, she was so overwhelmed that during those rare occasions when she got a good look at a ground stroke, she didn’t have the confidence to do anything with it. She served as poorly as Kvitova served well, and by the second set, she had lost all feel on her backhand.

Anisimova’s incandescent win over Sabalenka had a thrilling, “star is born” quality to it, not unlike Naomi Osaka’s title runs at Indian Wells and the US Open last year. Obviously, Anisimova isn’t going to do the same thing Down Under. But there was nothing wrong with getting excited about a 17-year-old—she’s three years younger than Osaka—who reaches the fourth round at a major. This loss, as much as it will sting, should teach her more about what it takes to play top-level tennis than any of her wins have.

Kvitova moves on to the quarterfinals, to play either Maria Sharapova or Ash Barty. She has followed up her title in Sydney last week with four straight-set demolitions in Melbourne. Every day is different, as Kvitova knows as well as anyone. But if she can maintain something close to her current level, there will be more good ones to come.

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