Rising Czech star Petra Kvitova sounded an ominous warning to her Australian Open rivals with her form at the mixed teams Hopman Cup. Kvitova’s winning Hopman Cup team-mate Tomas Berdych revealed that she arrived in Perth with a niggling injury, but the world number two showed precious little sign of it during the tournament. The world number two, who could claim the top ranking within days, was in imposing singles form throughout, dropping just one set in her four singles matches on the back of her powerful forehand. The sole blemish came against the woman she looks set to replace at the top of the women’s rankings in 2012, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, in her three-set victory over the world number one on Friday.
Kvitova beat world number nine Marion Bartoli, 2011 Hopman Cup winner Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, all in straight sets, in a further sign the 2011 Wimbledon champion is ready to claim the top ranking in women’s tennis. The Czech was ranked 28th in the world heading into last year’s Australian Open, where she reached the quarter-finals before being beaten in straight sets by Russian Vera Zvonareva. Kvitova heads to the Sydney International to complete her preparation and said the Hopman Cup had been a perfect start to the year, with the guarantee of four singles matches. “Well I mean for me it’s something really special because you know that you have to play three or four matches against great girls and you don’t really have some pressure on your back and you just play,” she said. “Hopefully after this preparation it will good to play the Australian Open. “I’m going to Sydney and you know every single week it’s a new chance to win some points and some matches. “It’s really close to be number one but still it’s really far away.”
