Petra Kvitova took revenge for a pair of 2016 losses to Angelique Kerber, reaching the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open with a marathon 6-7 (10-12), 7-5, 6-4 third-round victory over the world number one yesterday.
The epic lasted for three hours, 19 minutes and featured a 41-shot rally as well as eight double-faults from 2016 Australian and US Open champion Kerber and 11 from Kvitova. “Of course I’m a little disappointed,” Kerber said.
“But the match was a good one and I can go with positive emotions to Beijing. I’m still playing good and looking forward to the last few tournaments of the season. My serve was not the best today. I made some easy mistakes in the important moments, which were key in the second set.”
Kvitova had been beaten in Stuttgart and New York by her German rival; Kerber also won their last match of 2015 at the Singapore year-end finals. The Czech winner, who claimed the inaugural edition of the Chinese WTA event in 2014, improved to 9-1 at the tournament while Kerber lost her 15th match of the season against 55 victories.
Veteran grand slam winners Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams clashed for the first time in seven years, with the Russian ending the American’s title defence 24 hours after it began. Kuznetsova pounded out a 6-2, 6-2 hammering of the 35-year-old Williams.
“It was a good match. I don’t think Venus played her best game,” she said. “But I’ve been confident and I’ve been playing well. I didn’t use couple of my chances in the second set. But I still could finish it. Venus started to play better in the end, it was really important for me to keep the momentum.”
Kuznetsova is fighting for a spot in the year-end event in Singapore next month, standing outside the eighth and final qualifying spot. Rain wiped out third-round matches outside, leaving the quarter-finals incomplete; the main court has a roof.
Fourth seed Simona Halep turned 25 and celebrated by beating Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-3 in windy conditions, taking an hour and a quarter to advance to the last eight. “It was really difficult to play,” said the Romanian.”She came out very aggressive, but I returned well. I’m happy to win in two sets.”
Halep next plays American Madison Keys who beat Russia’s Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Briton Johanna Konta also stayed in the chase for a possible Singapore spot, beating Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5 7-6 (8-6), saving six set points in the second set to say alive for the victory.

Results round 3
3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-4 6-2 14-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat 1-Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-7(10) 7-5 6-4 11-Johanna Konta (Britain) beat 7-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 7-5 7-6(6) 9-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat 6-Venus Williams (US) 6-2 6-2 8-Madison Keys (US) beat Darya Kasatkina (Russia) 6-1 4-6 6-4 4-Simona Halep (Romania) beat Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) 6-3 6-3