ZCZC
BSP-01
TENNIS-WTA-USA-KVITOVA-VENUS
Venus rallies to oust third-seeded Kvitova at Indian Wells
INDIAN WELLS, United States, March 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Seven-time Grand
Slam champion Venus Williams rallied from a set and two breaks down to topple
third-seeded Petra Kvitova 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday and reach the third
round at Indian Wells.
“Today I just fought and tried my hardest, waited for opportunities and
sometimes created them,” said Williams, currently ranked 36th in the world.
She booked a third-round clash with fellow American Christina McHale, a 6-
4, 3-6, 6-4 winner over 30th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, who was runner-up to Naomi Osaka at
the Australian Open in January, also reached the final in Dubai last month.
The Czech appeared to have taken control of the stadium court slugfest
when she broke Williams for a 4-3 lead in the third.
But Williams immediately broke back and Kvitova soon found herself serving
to save the match. She took a 40-15 lead in the final game, but two double
faults, followed by a lucky netcord bounce for Williams gave the American a
match point and Kvitova sailed a ball long to end matters after two hours and
27 minutes.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0929 hrs