No. 189 Jodie Burrage needed the best serving day of her career to upend a returning Petra Kvitova, defeating the two-time Wimbledon champion 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the ATX Open. The 25-year-old from Great Britain struck a career-high 14 aces to edge Kvitova, who was playing her first match in 17 months. 

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Austin marked Kvitova’s return to the Hologic WTA Tour after giving birth to her seven-month-old son Petr. 

“She’s an absolute champion, I knew I was going to have to fight out here,” Burrage said. “Got off to a pretty shaky start but she came out like she hadn’t been away for 17 months. She was slapping everything and it was going in, so I knew then who I was up against. There was no doubt in my mind that she’s the same player that she was when she was on tour 17 months ago. Very happy with how I composed myself, got myself back in that match, and fought until the end.”

Burrage is on the comeback trail herself after missing six months last year due to wrist and ankle injuries. Twelve months ago, she was at a career-high No. 84 on the PIF WTA Rankings when she underwent surgery to repair a snapped wrist tendon. She suffered another setback last April, when she ruptured an ankle ligament during practice. After overcoming thoughts of retirement in November, Burrage ended last year’s season on the ITF Circuit by winning a W100 event in Dubai. 

It did not take long for Kvitova’s iconic left-handed forehand to do damage on Tuesday. She struck her first winner off that wing on the fourth point of the match en route to an opening break of Burrage’s serve. She extended that lead to 5-1 before Burrage managed her first break of the afternoon to close the gap to 5-3. Undeterred, Kvitova broke Burrage for a third time to seal the opening set after 49 minutes. 

While Kvitova’s eased through her service games in the first set, the second set proved much more difficult. Burrage managed back-to-back breaks in two crucial deuce games to lead 4-2 and then broke Kvitova again to earn a chance to serve out the set at 5-4. After opening the game with her eighth ace of the match, Burrage closed out the set to force a third.

Burrage completed her reversal of fortune behind her serve. While breaks of serve defined the first two sets, the duo battled through their service games to hold through the first seven games of the set. The pivotal game of the match came with Burrage serving at 4-3. In the longest game of the day, Burrage found her best serves when she needed them to save four break points and hold in a seven-deuce game. 

“I was struggling with my serve massively throughout that match,” Burrage said, “but in the third set I really found my rhythm on it. That comes down to my mentality. I had a lot of time out last year as well and these are the tournaments I missed playing. I just love the fight and love being back out here and that’s what got me through today.”

After missing her prime opportunity to take control of the set, Kvitova squandered a 30-0 lead in the next game. She struck back-to-back double faults and watched as Burrrage unleashed two screaming winners to break for a 5-4 lead and served out the 2-hour and 28-minute win. 

Burrage will face Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round. Kvitova will next head to the California desert for next week’s BNP Paribas Open, where she has received a main-draw wild card.