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 delivery 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 right down to degree 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: “If you let me step back a little bit, I really want to congratulate her,” she stated in her on-court interview.
“Because she had a child quite recently, and I’m so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It’s very inspiring for sports, athletes, women – it’s just amazing. Petra, my admiration to you – you’re the best!”
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 non-public jet
Jessica Pegula provided to fly doubles gamers to California after competing in Austin
The finalists of the ATX Open in Austin had 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 non-public jet.
Pegula, whose billionaire mother and father 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 ultimate.
With the gamers then going through a fast turnaround forward of the Indian Wells major 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 evening layover in Los Angeles or journeys to close by airports in Dallas and Houston.
“You know she can leave away right after her singles final, but she is such a selfless and generous girl,” Zhang wrote.
“This message is NOT to show I took the jet, just wanted to appreciate 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 trip.
“Otherwise, we would all have been on the road for at least nine hours,” she added.
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