Wearing a Buddhist necklace for luck, Thai youngster Luksika Kumkhum up ended former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in a huge day-one shock at the Australian Open.
The 20-year-old world No.88 hadn’t won a solitary match on the WTA Tour before downing Swede Sofia Arvidsson in last year’s Australian Open.
Kumkhum lost in the following round and hadn’t played another grand slam match until Monday night’s 6-2 1-6 6-4 defeat of sixth seed Kvitova.
The Czech sixth seed had been considered one of Serena Williams’ main dangers for the Open title and there was little in Kumkhum’s lead-up form to suggest she was set to pull off such an upset.
She lost in the opening round of qualifying at last week’s Sydney International, where Kvitova powered through to the semi-finals.
But playing two-handed off both wings, Kumkhum ousted Kvitova in a smidgeon under two hours before a packed house at Margaret Court Arena.
“It’s like really exciting. I’m really happy,” Kumkhum said, saying there was no great secret behind her successes in Melbourne.
“I just love hard court,” she said.
“Every match, I mean, I’m happy to play and it’s exciting every day. Yeah, I just do my best. That’s it. Not a secret.”
Growing up in Chanthaburi near the Cambodian border and coached by her father, Kumkhum said she had few friends to play with.
“Like two or three,” she said.
But inspired by former Thai tour players Paradorn Srichaphan and her idol Tamarine Tanasugarn, Kumkhum turned professional at 19.
She never dreamed of beating Kvitova, though.
“I just try like nothing to lose,” she said.
“Just play the best, do the best today. That’s it.”
Next up is German Mona Barthel in the second round on Wednesday, while Kvitova can pack her bags after suffering her first opening round loss at a major since the 2011 US Open, two months after the Czech won Wimbledon.
“Unfortunately I didn’t play well. I didn’t play my game that I really tried all off-season to work on,” Kvitova said.
“It was a great off-season. I was really excited to be here, feeling good.
“But I think that probably I wanted too much and then everything just fell down.”
