New York: Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova stormed into the fourth round of the US Open for the seventh time after overcoming No. 21 seed Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets on Saturday.
Kvitova, the No. 21 seed who won the Wimbledon women’s singles title in 2011 and 2014, saved two match points to beat Muguruza, the 2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon winner, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(10) in 2 hours and 38 minutes.
The clash of two-time Grand Slam champions, the seventh edition of a rivalry dating back to 2015, was a barnburner to the end. Muguruza served for the match at 5-3 in the third set and held two match points on Kvitova’s serve at 6-5, but the Czech escaped both situations to eventually convert her own fourth match point in the super-tiebreak.
Midway through the grass swing, Kvitova’s 2022 record was in the red at 10-13. But a title in Eastbourne has turned her season around: since then, the 32-year-old has gone 15-3, also including a runner-up showing in Cincinnati two weeks ago.
–IANS