KVITOVA IN QUARTERFINALS

TWO-TIME Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was cheered as if she had been the home player, after a straight-sets win over Britain’s Naomi Broady in Birmingham yesterday carried her into a first quarterfinal in eight months. The applause was not intended as any slight to Broady, but as acknowledgement of an encouraging performance by the Czech, whose career may still be at risk from the injuries inflicted on her by an intruder with a knife six months ago. Kvitova did serve a few double faults which briefly seemed worrying, but hit some fine ground strokes and moved better than she used to in a 6-2, 6-2 victory.