By Chris Oddo | Tuesday October 4, 2016
Petra Kvitova tallied her seventh straight win and set up a big round of 16 clash with defending Beijing champion Garbine Muguruza.
Photo Source: Wuhan Tennis
Chinese qualifier Wang Yafan provided some early resistance but Petra Kvitova pushed through shortly thereafter, winning 10 of the final 12 games to lock down a 6-4, 6-1 victory in second-round action at the China Open.
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Last week’s Wuhan champion showed a bit of rust playing in a different venue and different conditions from the setting where she rolled impressively to the title in Wuhan, but she quickly found her form and will head into an enticing round of 16 clash with Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza with plenty of confidence in tow.
Kvitova has now won 21 of 26 matches since Montreal, and the 26-year-old finds herself with a small sliver of hope when it comes to the Race to the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Kvitova is currently 12th in the race and just under 600 points from the No. 8 spot. It’s a longshot, but given Kvitova’s current form, it’s not out of the question.
"I was pretty tired. I had two days off, which I think helped me. For sure, was a good win today. We'll see how everything is going, like, in the next days," Kvitova said after her win. “But I think I still do have motivation. I think it was a great week in Wuhan. I think that gave me more motivation and confidence, which I really needed before. I'm not really struggling with motivation here."
Kvitova and Muguruza have split their two previous matches.
Elsewhere in Beijing, Caroline Wozniacki stayed hot with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Roberta Vinci. The Dane has now won 14 of 16 matches since the start of the U.S. Open. She improves to 27-16 on the year and will face Agnieszka Radwanska for the third consecutive week in round of 16 action.
No. 4-seeded Simona Halep moved into the round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Yanina Wickmayer, while No.9-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Japan’s Misaki Doi, 6-1, 7-5.
Tenth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova was knocked off by Alizé Cornet, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, and China’s Zhang Shuai slipped past American Alison Riske, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4).
Zhang will face Halep in the round of 16, while Kuznetsova will face Keys.