Stat of the Day: Petra Kvitova reaches 99th WTA quarterfinal of career in Ostrava

Petra Kvitova won a battle between former No. 2s in Ostrava today, defeating Paula Badosa, 7-6 (4), 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals at the WTA 500 indoor event.

She needed eight match points to do it—Badosa saved six while serving to stay in the match at 3-5 in the second set, and Kvitova needed another two in the next game, which featured several long, drawn-out rallies as Badosa fought until the end.

Kvitova was asked afterwards how tired she was on a scale of one to 10.

“Twenty,” the two-time Wimbledon champion replied.

“Every game was very tight, and Paula played great. I had to close it out with a really good serve, because she was putting everything back in the last few games.”

And how would she rate her home crowd?

“A hundred,” Kvitova said. “Thank you very much for coming, and thank you very much for the support—it meant a lot to me, especially in the end.”

The match was of the highest quality, stats-wise, Kvitova finishing with 42 winners to 26 unforced errors, and Badosa finishing with 19 winners to 7 unforced errors. The biggest difference came in the break points—Kvitova converted 2 of 9, Badosa 1 of 10.

Final point count: Kvitova 89, Badosa 86.

Kvitova is now into her fifth WTA quarterfinal of the year, having won Eastbourne, reached another final in Cincinnati (falling to Caroline Garcia) and another two quarterfinals at Dubai (falling to Jelena Ostapenko) and Miami (falling to Iga Swiatek).

Kvitova is also through to the 99th WTA quarterfinal of her career.

KVITOVA’S 99 WTA QUARTERFINALS OR BETTER BY ROUND:
~ 29 titles (incl. two major titles at 2011 Wimbledon and 2014 Wimbledon)
~ 11 runner-up finishes (incl. one major final at 2019 Australian Open)
~ 23 semifinals (incl. four major SFs at 2010 Wimbledon, 2012 Australian Open, 2012 Roland Garros and 2020 Roland Garros)
~ 36 quarterfinals (incl. six major QFs at 2011 Australian Open, 2012 Wimbledon, 2013 Wimbledon, 2015 US Open, 2017 US Open and 2020 Australian Open)

The 36 quarterfinals includes this week in Ostrava.

Kvitova’s win over the No. 4-ranked Badosa on Thursday was also the milestone 60th Top 10 win of her career. She has seven career Top 10 wins at Grand Slams, three in Billie Jean King Cup competition and now 50 at regular WTA events.

It was her 29th career win over a Top 5 player.