By Adrianna Outlaw | Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Genie Bouchard beat Denisa Allertova, 7-6 (0), 7-5, and could face top-seeded Angelique Kerber in the Doha round of 16.
Photo credit: Qatar Tennis Federation
Genie Bouchard is turning the competitive corner, while Petra Kvitova is happy to get back on a winning track.
Wild card Bouchard beat back the challenge of Denisa Allertova, 7-6 (0), 7-5, to reach the Qatar Total Open round of 16. Bouchard will face No. 72 Saisai Zheng for a quarterfinal spot.
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Playing attacking tennis, Zheng won 11 of 13 trips to net toppling top-seeded Angelique Kerber, 7-5, 6-1.
"Oh my God the feeling is amazing today," Zheng told Andy Taylor afterward. "Kerber played unbelievable in Australian Open. She's a great champion. She didn't play many tournaments after Australian Open, so for sure it's not her best tennis today. But I'm happy I win that match."
The 61st-ranked Bouchard broke serve four times in the second set of a 90-minute win.
It was Bouchard's ninth win of the season. To put that into perspective, it took Bouchard until Cincinnati last August to score her ninth win of the 2015 season.
Kvitova fought off two set points and friendly fire from her doubles partner, Barbora Strycova, with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory.
Strycova, who lost to Sara Errani in a lopsided Dubai final on Saturday, held set point serving for the set at 5-3. Kvitova broke then saved a second set point to forge a 5-all tie.
The two-time Wimbledon winner dominated the tie breaker. Strycova sprayed a pair of errors off her most stable shot, the two-handed backhand, to trail 3-0. Three points later, Kvitova crushed a forehand return winner for 6-0. She closed the set on another Strycova error.
"It was a pretty close first set. It was real difficult to stay into the match with two set points against (me)," Kvitova told Andy Taylor afterward. "I was really pumping up and just trying to play point-by-point."
It was Kvitova's first win since her first-round Australian Open triumph over qualifier Luksika Kumkhum. She entered Doha on a three-match losing streak, including a three-set loss to American Madison Brengle in Dubai last week.
"It was a really important match for me today, I'm really glad I won," Kvitova said. "I struggled a bit from the beginning of the season. I'm trying to get back to my form. I hope this match will help me."
The fifth-seeded Czech will face either 12th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova or Jelena Ostapenko next.
No. 3 seeded Agnieszka Radwanska swept qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-4, 6-4. Radwanska will face either 14th-seeded Jelena Jankovic or Monica Niculescu in the round of 16.
Andrea Petkovic defeated Margarita Gasparyan, 6-3, 6-3.
No. 9-seeded Roberta Vinci rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over Daria Kasatkina.