By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) – Petra Kvitova reached the fourth round at Wimbledon for only the second time since triumphing at the All England Club nine years ago with a 6-3 7-5 win over Serbian qualifier Natalija Stevanovic in a rain-disrupted encounter on Saturday.
The Czech ninth seed needed four set points to seal the first set as menacing dark clouds hovered over Court Two, with her 225th ranked opponent slapping a service return long.
At 1-1 in the second set, Stevanovic was left rather agitated when Hawkeye confirmed she had hit an ace but the umpire ruled she would have to replay the point since the linesperson’s call would have prevented Kvitova from attempting to return the ball.
A clearly distracted Stevanovic struggled to forget the incident and ended up being broken after Kvitova’s service return kissed the line.
Although the 28-year-old, who had beaten former world number one Karolina Pliskova in the opening round, broke back in the next game, she struggled to cope with Kvitova’s powerful attacking game and dropped her serve again to trail 2-3.
However, Kvitova, who also won the grasscourt major in 2011, saw her serve falter and she allowed Stevanovic to take a 5-4 lead as the heavens opened over southwest London.
Following a two-hour rain break, Kvitova appeared determined to make her greater firepower count, although the final game turned into an almighty tussle of wills.
Stevanovic, who overcame a life-threatening cyst on her liver when she was 21, stretched the Czech to six deuces, three break points and even won the longest rally of the match, capping off a breathtaking 20-shot exchange with a forehand winner into the corner.
After watching three match points disappear thanks to Stevanovic’s dogged resilience, Kvitova finally triumphed on her fourth attempt to seal a last-16 showdown with either 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu or Tunisian sixth seed Ons Jabeur.
“It’s been a while since I was in the second week of Wimbledon, so I am very happy,” said the 33-year-old, who is on an eight match winning streak after winning the grasscourt title in Berlin.
“I love playing on grass and when my serve is working well I love it even more.”
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, Editing by Hugh Lawson)
