Petra Kvitova’s hot streak on clay has ended in disappointing fashion, with the Czech losing a tight match to Anett Kontaveit in a delayed French Open third-round encounter.
Kvitova, one of seven women’s grand-slam champions in action on day seven, was edged out 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-4) on Court One – snapping a 13-match winning run.
The eighth seed began on Saturday in confident fashion against the Estonian whom she had beaten on the way to last month’s Madrid title, but a 3-1 lead turned into a 5-3 deficit.
Kvitova recovered to take the opener into a tiebreaker but Kontaveit, herself in fine form on clay, edged it 8-6.
Kontaveit rallied from 2-4 in the second set but squandered two match points when serving at 5-4 – missing two regulation forehands. Kvitova dug in to level at 5-5. The 25th seed served for the match again at 6-5 but faltered once more.
She received a gift in the second tiebreaker when Kvitova slammed a smash long at 3-5 and although Kontaveit double-faulted on her first match point, she sealed her first career win over the two-time Wimbledon champion on the next one.
Maria Sharapova has continued her French Open charge, the 28th seed belting Czech No.6 and former top-ranked Karolina Pliskova, 6-2 6-1.
The Russian two-time champion is on track for a possible fourth-round showdown with Serena Williams.
In earlier third-round action, Spanish No.3 seed Garbine Muguruza eliminated Samantha Stosur, thrashing the Australian, 6-0 6-2.
Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko beat 19th seed Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, 6-2 6-4, while American No.10 Sloane Stephens survived a scare to down Camila Giorgi of Italy, 4-6 6-1 8-6.
AAP