By Adrianna Outlaw | Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Defending Wuhan champion Petra Kvitova won the final four games, rallying past Daria Gavrilova, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
Photo credit: AFP
Two of the top four seeds had already departed the Wuhan draw by the time Petra Kvitova took the court today.
The defending champion was in no mood for a quick exit.
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Kvitova won the final four games fighting off the feisty Daria Gavrilova, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 to remain undefeated in Wuhan.
“I don’t know how I won it,” said Kvitova. “I think these kind of matches are important, to get the confidence to know that if you are not playing well and you are not 100 percent ready that you can still win. That’s a good sign.”
The third-seeded Czech withstood a two hour, 35-minute baseline battle to raise her record to 6-0 at the Premier 5 event.
"It was great. Of course, I'm really happy that I'm here again after a long year," Kvitova said in her on-court interview. "The crowd is still amazing so I'm really glad to be here. (I will try) to do the best I can right now and try to defend the title for sure."
World No. 29 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, broke serve seven times edging fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6) in a three hour, eight-minute thriller.
Wozniacki's loss came a day after second-seeded Maria Sharapova, retired while holding a 2-1 third-set lead over Barbora Strycova.
Schmiedlova will play Kristina Mladenovic, a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 victor over 14th-seeded Madison Keys, for a quarterfinal spot.
Gavrilova saved break points in a grueling game to hold for 4-3. She broke Kvitova for the sixth time to stretch the lead. Serving for the match at 5-3, Gavrilova could not close. She double faulted to drop serve at love, squealing in frustration at donating the break.
Kvitova slid her fifth ace forging a 5-all deadlock.
Hammering a big forehand, Kvitova broke for 6-5. The two-time Wimbledon champion saved a break point before converting her second match point.
Kvitova, who hit 39 winners against 47 unforced errors, will play US Open finalist Roberta Vinci for a quarterfinal spot. The 15th-seeded Italian was a 6-4, 6-3 victor over Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu.
British qualifier Johanna Konta continued her hot streak. Konta held a 6-4, 1-0 lead over Victoria Azarenka when the two-time Australian Open champion retired at the one-hour mark citing a leg injury.
Konta has won 20 of her last 21 matches. She will face top-seeded Simona Halep, who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets, next.
No. 5-seeded Garbine Muguruza crushed Sloane Stephens, 6-2, 6-0. The Wimbledon finalist will face Ana Ivanovic next. The ninth-seeded Ivanovic dismissed American Madison Brengle, 6-0, 6-3.
Tokyo finalist Belinda Bencic retired with a left leg injury after losing the the first set, 6-2, to Camila Giorgi. Bencic was runner-up to Agnieszka Radwanska in Sunday's Tokyo final.
Giorgi will face 13th-ranked Angelique Kerber for the first time. The sixth-seeded champion defeated Jelena Jankovic, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. It was Kerber's third straight win over Jankovic, who won her 14th title in Guangzhou over the weekend.