By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday August 18, 2022
Top-5 wins have been hard to come by for Petra Kvitova, and by her own lofty standards, all wins have been hard to achieve in 2022, a year that has seen the Czech deal with a wrist injury as she has struggled to maintain her desire to compete and find her form on tour.
Now 32, it’s understandable that Kvitova may not burn for the sport the way she did when she was plowing through Wimbledon draws a decade or so ago (one in 2011 another in 2014), but after Thursday's win over Ons Jabeur, it’s clear that Kvitova is in a pretty good place at the moment.
UPDATE: Kvitova defeated Ajla Tomljanovic to reach the semis at Cincinnati on Friday.
“I think it's a big boost for me, for sure, after the season that I had,” she said after notching her first Top-10 win since February over the fifth-ranked Tunisian.
“I know I won Eastbourne, but it was on the grass, my favorite grass. It was pretty fast, faster than Wimby. But it's great to have three matches like this. So I'm really glad for it. The first round was really tight, down from the match points. I think always these matches are important for the tournament, for the confidence, as well.”
Kvitova has seen an uptick in form since the summer. The aforementioned title in Eastbourne was her 29th title – she has now won 10 of her last 12 matches and will face Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
After losing her first match of the North American hard court swing in Toronto, Kvitova has suddenly emerged as a player to be reckoned with ahead of the US Open. New York has never been her best tournament, but she does have two quarterfinals to her name in the big apple. If things come together for the free-swinging Czech she could make some noise in New York City.
At the very least, she’s given herself a chance to do that by earning some matches in Cincinnati, and playing herself into form.
“The first round in Toronto was not the best,” she said. “Without the matches, I don't really play, so it's important that I stayed and I played here [in Cincy] and had a couple of matches. So I hope that this will help not only confidence-wise but, as you mentioned, fitness-wise.
“I hope it's clicking. It's strange, because Cincy is not really like my "favorite favorite," but I'm playing decent results here, so that's good. I will try to play good tomorrow, as well.”