Sunday on the clay court of Roland-Garros, the 23-year-old Belgian had a match point but finally had to give up in front of the Czech Petra Kvitova, 31, 12th in the world and seeded N.11. The game, played on a sunny Suzanne-Lenglen court, ended with a score of 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-1 after 2:16 hours of play.
The Belgian, beaten by Kvitova in the first round of the Australian Open at the start of the season, dominated the first round of this third duel on the circuit between the two players. Taking advantage in particular of the excitement of her opponent on the second ball, Greet Minnen took twice the service of the Czech at the start of the set. But Kvitova, semi-finalist last fall on Parisian clay, accelerated as Minnen served to win the set. The Belgian was not disconcerted, however. Applied and well helped by the many faults of her opponent, she won the decisive game 7-3 to take control of the game. The second set saw the two players easily keep their face-off until 4-4, when Kvitova chose to make the break. Under the eyes of his coach Ann Devries, former captain of the Belgian Fed Cup team, and Alison Van Uytvanck, Minnen reacted in the wake to stay in the set (5-5) before putting pressure on Kvitova by taking his service (6-5). Two-time Wimbledon winner Kvitova brought all her experience to bear when it came to dismissing a match point before forcing a decisive second game. Now looking forward, the Czech with 28 titles has emerged to take the match to the 3rd set. Minnen, a bit blunt physically, and Kvitova put in confidence, the last set marched. The Czech lined up five games in a row before qualifying for the second round despite 44 unforced errors. She will challenge the Russian Elena Vesnina or the Belarusian Olga Govortsova. In 2020 for her first at Roland Garros, Minnen lost in the first round to Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska. In five participations in a Grand Slam tournament, the native of Turnhout has reached the second round once, at the Australian Open in 2020. Monday, Elise Mertens, Alison Van Uytvanck and David Goffin will compete at the Porte d ‘Auteuil. Mertens (WTA 15) will start against the Australian Storm Sanders, 161st in the world and after qualifying, Van Uytvanck against the Italian Martina Trevisan (WTA 97) and Goffin (ATP 13 / N.13) will face the great Italian hope Lorenzo Musetti ( ATP 76), 19 years old.
