Kvitova feels the nerves but reaches 3rd round at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Petra Kvitova has plenty of experience on the grass courts of Wimbledon. After all, she's a two-time champion at the All England Club.
But that doesn't mean everything is easy for her once she steps onto the green courts in southwest London.
She has spoken about being nervous when she comes to Wimbledon, and she showed some of those nerves on Thursday when she beat Ana Bogdan 6-1, 7-6 (5).
It was a straight-set victory, but the second set wasn't straightforward.
Kvitova was leading 5-1 when Bogdan started to reel off game after game. Then Kvitova had a match point while serving at 5-4, but failed to convert that chance and then the game itself, eventually leading to the tiebreaker.
"Especially a few games on my serve, it was really long games, and mentally very tough," the 25th-seeded Kvitova said. "I think maybe even this took some energy from my serve and I just couldn't make it."
She still pulled it out in the end, like she has done so many times in the past at Wimbledon. She won her first title in 2011, and added the second in 2014. But she was attacked in her home in 2016 and suffered knife injuries to her playing left hand. She later had surgery and needed more than five months to recover.
Last week, she won the fifth grass-court title of her career at a tournament in Eastbourne, England.
That should have given her plenty of confidence heading into this tournament, and this match.
"Somehow I made it," Kvitova said on court. "I don't know how, but I did it."
Kvitova will next face Paula Badosa. The fourth-seeded Spaniard defeated Irina Bara 6-3, 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who reached the Wimbledon final last year, was eliminated on Centre Court. The Czech player lost to British wild-card entry Katie Boulter 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
The 25-year-old Boulter also beat Pliskova last week at a warmup tournament in Eastbourne for her first win against a top-10 player. She broke for a 5-4 lead in the final set and converted her first match point with a volley winner.
Boulter will face Harmony Tan in the next round. Tan eliminated seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams in the first round and then beat 32nd-seeded Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek also advanced — and won her 37th straight match.
Swiatek defeated Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on No. 1 Court to improve her winning streak, the longest since Martina Hingis also won 37 matches in a row in 1997.
She will next face Alize Cornet, who defeated American player Claire Liu 6-3, 6-3.
In the men's draw, Nick Kyrgios advanced to the third round for the sixth time in eight Wimbledon appearances. The unseeded Australian, who reached the quarterfinals at the All England Club in his debut in 2014, beat 26th-seeded Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.
It was a much easier match than the first round, when Kyrgios was taken to five sets by British wild-card entry Paul Jubb.
"Getting over the line in that first round was massive," Kyrgios said. "Today I was kind of in my zone. I just wanted to remind everyone that I'm pretty good."
Kyrgios will next face Stefanos Tsitsipas. The fourth-seeded Greek beat Jordan Thompson 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 on No. 1 Court.
Tsitsipas will be playing in the third round at the All England Club for the first time since 2018. He lost in the first round last year and 2019. His best Wimbledon result was reaching the fourth round in 2018.
Rafael Nadal also advanced, along with No. 11 Taylor Fitz of the United States. Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion seeded second this year, beat Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
No. 17 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain withdrew from the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19. He had been scheduled to play Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia.
No. 12 Diego Schwartzman and No. 13 Denis Shapovalov both lost. Brandon Nakashima, an American who beat Shapovalov 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (6), will next face Galan.
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