WHAT HAPPENED: Down match point while serving at 5-6 in the third, with a coveted spot in the US Open Round of 16 on the line, Petra Kvitova reared back and fired an ace.
She wasn’t out of the woods yet.
She would save another match point two points later, out-lasting Muguruza in a crosscourt battle before the Spaniard blinked her eye and netted a forehand.
That crisis averted, there were plenty more to come.
On a sunny, blue-sky day at Flushing Meadows, the Czech weathered all storms and eventually emerged victorious in a memorable clash of former two-time Grand Slam champions in Louis Armstrong Stadium, saving a pair of match points and converting her fourth to defeat Garbine Muguruza in a hair-raising third-set tiebreak, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(10).
The Czech, who reaches the Round of 16 for the sixth time at the US Open, says she took some inspiration from Serena Williams' determined performance on Friday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Williams valiantly saved five match points and worked the crowd into a frenzy before eventually falling to Ajla Tomljanovic, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1.
“I watched Serena last night and it was amazing how she was saving those match points,” she told the crowd. “I tried to do the same today.”
23rd-seeded Kvitova improves to 6-1 lifetime against Muguruza and hands the ninth-seeded Spaniard a bitter defeat in what has been a Grand Slam season filled with disappointment. Muguruza finishes a full year without reaching the second week at a major for the first time since 2013.
She had the win within her grasp, but Kvitova simply would not be denied.
After saving the match points, it was Kvitova who had the looser arm down the stretch, particularly in the match tiebreak, as she out-steadied her rival in a tussle that will likely go down as the most dramatic encounter of week one.
"Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s tougher to fight against someone like Garbiñe," Kvitova said. "I know I was leading in the head-to-head but you never really know—especially at the Grand Slams."
WHAT IT MEANS: Kvitova continues her hot form on the hard courts and will enter the second week with a real shot to make a deep run. She reached the Cincinnati final in her last outing, engineering wins over the likes of Ons Jabeur, Ajla Tomljanovic, and Madison Keys before falling in the final to Caroline Garcia.
Kvitova will face No.8-seeded American Jessica Pegula in Round of 16 action on Monday.
MATCH POINT: Kvitova has now won six matches on the trot against Muguruza, after losing the pair’s first head-to-head meeting at the 2015 WTA finals.
The Czech also improves to 2-0 vs. Muguruza at the US Open—she defeated Kvitova in a fourth-round clash in 2017, 7-6(3), 6-3.
Two-time US Open quarterfinalist Kvitova earns her eighth Top 10 wins at the Grand Slams, and her third at the US Open.
