Czech's Kvitova, who won the women's singles tournament twice at Wimbledon, lost her comeback match for the first time in 17 months. On the 26th Beijing time, Kvitova lost 1-2 (6-3, 4-6, 4-6) to Jody Burregie (No. 189, Great Britain) in the first round of the singles main draw on the second day of the Women's Professional Tennis (WTA) Tour ATX Open (total prize money of $275,940) held in Austin, Texas, USA.

Kvitova ushered in the return game

Kvitova, who topped the Wimbledon singles in 2011 and 2014, married Irgi Barneck, who coached in 2023, and gave birth to a son in July last year. Kvitova, born in 1990, has not competed in the last year or so, and is not ranked in the world, and Austin is the first stop of her comeback.

Buregi hit 14 service points on the day to cost Kvitova a loss on her comeback debut. Burregi was also the player who returned to the court last September after a six-month gap due to wrist and ankle injuries last year.

After a fierce battle of 2 hours and 28 minutes, Kvitova will play as a wild card at the WTA Tour's BNP Paris Bar Open in Indian Wells, California, in early March.