Petra Kvitova continues to be awaiting her first win since coming back from having a child after dropping 6-4 3-6 4-6 to France’s Varvara Gracheva on the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
Kvitova, 34, who returned from a 17-month break final month after giving start to her son Petr, ran out of steam in a see-saw battle, which lasted two hours and 23 minutes.
Gracheva, who now faces fast-rising Russian Mirra Andreeva within the second spherical, fought again after dropping the opening set 6-4, decisively breaking Kvitova to guide 4-2 within the second earlier than levelling the match.
Kvitova hit again from 3-1 all the way down to stage it at 3-3 within the decider however crucially misplaced serve once more at 4-4 and the world No 70 served out for the victory.
After her win, Gracheva paid tribute to former world No 2 Kvitova: “Should you let me step again a bit of bit, I actually wish to congratulate her,” she mentioned in her on-court interview.
“As a result of she had a toddler fairly lately, and I am so comfortable that she now has the function of a mom and a tennis participant, which could be very demanding. It is very inspiring for sports activities, athletes, ladies – it is simply superb. Petra, my admiration to you – you are the perfect!”
In her first match again on the tour, on the ATX Open in Texas on the finish of final month, Kvitova was crushed in three units by British No 6 Jodie Burrage.
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Pegula flies Austin finalists to Indian Wells in personal jet
Jessica Pegula provided to fly doubles gamers to California after competing in Austin
The finalists of the ATX Open in Austin have been spared a gruelling late-night journey to Indian Wells following Sunday’s motion after American Jessica Pegula flew them to the event within the Californian desert in her personal jet.
Pegula, whose billionaire dad and mom personal Buffalo’s NFL and NHL franchises, gained the singles title in Austin defeating compatriot McCartney Kessler 7-5 6-2 however hung round as Kessler and Zhang Shuai misplaced to Yuan Yue and Anna Blinkova within the doubles closing.
With the gamers then dealing with a fast turnaround forward of the Indian Wells principal draw, Pegula provided to fly all of them to California for the WTA 1000 event.
Zhang thanked Pegula for her generosity on Instagram, including that they might in any other case have confronted a late night time layover in Los Angeles or journeys to close by airports in Dallas and Houston.
“You recognize she will be able to depart away proper after her singles closing, however she is such a selfless and beneficiant woman,” Zhang wrote.
“This message is NOT to indicate I took the jet, simply needed to understand and transferring the love.”
Blinkova additionally shared Zhang’s story on Instagram and thanked world No 4 Pegula, who has amassed greater than $17m in prize cash in her profession.
China’s Yue additionally expressed gratitude to US Open runner-up Pegula on social media for the luxurious experience.
“In any other case, we’d all have been on the street for at the very least 9 hours,” she added.
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