Badosa rises to the Kvitova challenge to move on at Wimbledon

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Wilson Blade 9

Fourth seed Paula Badosa rose up to the challenge of playing Petra Kvitova on grass and edged the two-time Wimbledon champion 7-5 7-6(4) in the third round at the All England Club.

Paula Badosa Wimbledon 2022

Besides coming to London right after winning the Eastbourne grass-court title, the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion Kvitova entered her Saturday’s encounter with Badosa having played 46 matches at the All England Club, more than anyone remaining in the draw. However, after escaping defeat in her first two matches this fortnight, against Jasmine Paolini and Ana Bogdan, the seed No.25 Kvitova wasn’t able to squeeze past another opponent.

Kvitova opened the match with a 2-0 lead and kept that advantage until 5-3, when Padosa won four consecutive games to take the first set. The second set went with serve until the tiebreak, as Badosa didn’t earn even a single break point, while Kvitova missed to convert as many as nine. Badosa was a more confident player in the tiebreak and progressed to the fourth round of Wimbledon for the second year in a row.

Badosa’s next opponent will be the 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, who defeated Magdalena Frech 6-4 6-1.

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