London: Petra Kvitova wasted no time as she opened the defense of her Wimbledon title in overpowering fashion.
Winning 28 of 29 points on serve, the two-time champion needed only 35 minutes to overpower Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-0 in Tuesday's opening match on Centre Court.
The only point Kvitova lost on serve came when she double-faulted on the first point of the final game, hitting a 93 mph (150 kph) second serve just wide. She won the next four points, finishing — appropriately — with a service winner.
In keeping with Wimbledon tradition, Kvitova had the honor of playing the first Centre Court match on the second day as the reigning champion.
"It was a great feeling," said the second-seeded Czech, who also won the title in 2011. "I have so many nice memories. I was very nervous before my match. The atmosphere was unbelievable, so for me it was really nice to back. I'm really glad how I played as well."
It was a performance of total dominance by the powerful lefthander. Kvitova came into Wimbledon without any grass-court matches this year after withdrawing from last week's tournament in Eastbourne with a viral illness.
She showed no signs of illness Tuesday as she used her big serve and flat forehand to dictate play. The 108th-ranked Bertens, who has never beaten a top 10 player, was continuously on the defensive and could not cope with the heavy pace.
In addition to her dominance on serve, Kvitova won all 10 of the points in which she came to the net. She had only three unforced errors, to go with her nine winners.
In another one-sided women's match, 10th-seeded Angelique Kerber swept fellow German Carina Witthoeft 6-0, 6-0 — the third so-called "double bagel" in two days.
On Monday, both Venus Williams and Andrea Petkovic won their matches 6-0, 6-0. Those were the first double bagels at Wimbledon in six years.
Kerber said the scoreline of the 44-minute match was misleading.
"I think it was a good match for me," she said. "Carina was playing not bad, actually. So the games (were) not like 40-0. It was very close, actually."
On another sunny and warm day at Wimbledon, with temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit), seven-time champion Roger Federer was up second on Centre Court against Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia.
Andy Murray, the 2013 champion, was set to face Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in the third match on Centre. Two-time champion Rafael Nadal was playing Thomas Bellucci of Brazil on Court 1.
Early men's winners Tuesday included No. 20 Roberto Bautista Agut and No. 25 Andreas Seppi.
Among the women, No. 17 Elina Svitolina and No. 20 Garbine Muguruza advanced to the second round.
