Cincinnati (USA) August 19 : Czech Petra Kvitova made it to the Western & Southern Open quarterfinals with 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 win against No.five seed Ons Jabeur in 1 hour and 47 minutes in Cincinnati on Thursday. Kvitova has won four times over Jabeur with the 6-1, 6-2 victory at the same time of Cincinnati the previous year.She is leading their overall head-to-head 4-1 and this was the first match in the match that went to a final set.Jabeur’s only win was in Sydney this season.
The win means that the 32-year old has now made it to four Cincinnati quarterfinals.
She was semi-finalist in 2012 and 2018 and made it to the final eight in 2021.Despite that her winning percentage at the event up to the present was 55 percent — her second-lowest percentage at any WTA 1000 event, above only Rome (50 percent).
Additionally, Jabeur is the first Top 10 player she has defeated in Cincinnati.
An aggregate of 31 winners were smashed by Kvitova with five aces and 43 unforced mistakes.The World No.28 also had her highest return when she was able to score big points, smashing clear winners in breaking for 4-1 in the initial set, and for 5-1 in the third set.
A string of powerful, deep returns also led to important mistakes from Jabeur.The Tunisian committed 30 unforced mistakes and only picked up nine wins.
Jabeur was able to commit two double errors in her first service game, and she only managed to land 35 percent of her initial serves in the opening set.The percentage rose to 62 percent in the second set.Thattogether with the decline in Kvitova’s game allowed Jabeur to even the match.However, the Wimbledon finalist slid off abruptly in the final, expressing her anger and frustration throughout the match.
But, Jabeur still managed to create a song with sprinkles of her signature hot shots.
A forehand pass that was whipped in the second match of the second set served as an effective springboard to gain an advantage in the match.
And she did a spectacular backhand pass that was cut in half from behind the line of service as well with the ball dropping below the net’s height, allowing it to get to the set point.
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