Eastbourne: Johanna Konta beats Petra Kvitova
British number one Johanna Konta came from behind to beat two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and reach the quarter-finals in Eastbourne.
Konta won 5-7 6-4 6-0 against the Czech fifth seed and will now face either Andrea Petkovic or Ekaterina Makarova.
Konta, 24, lost the first set despite leading 5-2 but broke Kvitova’s serve in the fifth game of the second on her way to levelling the match.
The 11th seed then dominated the third set to reach the last eight.
“Both of us were playing at a really good level in parts and struggling to keep that up in others,” said Konta. “I think I just managed to string a few points together today.
| Match stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kvitova | Konta | |
| 6 | Aces | 5 |
| 4 | Double faults | 5 |
| 70 | First serve percentage | 72 |
| 3/10 | Break points converted | 6/12 |
| 56% | First serve points won | 69% |
| 42% | Second serve points won | 35% |
“There are not words big enough to describe the support you the crowd have shown me. I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.”
It is Konta’s ninth win against a top-20 ranked opponent in the past 12 months – a run that includes successes against Garbine Muguruza, Simona Halep and Roberta Vinci. She has risen from 146th in the world to 18th over that period.
Konta twice served for the first set after forcing a number of early errors from Kvitova but the Czech won five straight games to claim the opener.
The Briton steadied her game at the start of the second set and, after breaking serve, levelled the match on her third set point.
Konta, who was seeded 17th for Wimbledon earlier in the day, then won the deciding set to love to qualify for the quarter-finals for the second successive year at her hometown tournament.
Kvitova – who had won the pair’s only previous meeting with a 6-3 7-5 last-16 victory at September’s US Open – faded in the final set. After her second-round exit at the hand of Latvian world number 36 in Birmingham last week, she will need to improve to mount a title challenge at Wimbledon.
Elsewhere at Eastborne, top seed Agnieszka Radwanska saw off former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard 6-3 6-3, while former world number one Caroline Wozniacki fells to Puerto Rico’s world number 43 Monica Puig.