Comebacking Kvitova stunned by American
LONDON — Madison Brengle knew, of course, that her opponent, Petra Kvitova, was a two-time Wimbledon champion and a popular pick to win the title again this year.
Brengle also was aware, of course, that she herself never had won so much as one main-draw match at the All England Club until this week.
This, instead, is all the 27-year-old from Dover, Del., was focused on as she began playing Kvitova last night on Court No. 2: Please just let me win a game. The 95th-ranked Brengle did much, much more, stunning the 11th-seeded Kvitova 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 to reach the third round at Wimbledon.
The reason for Brengle’s preoccupation with taking merely a single game? In her Wimbledon debut in 2015, she lost to Venus Williams 6-0, 6-0.
“So, like, that’s always in my head when I’m out here,” Brengle said, pointing a finger at her right temple. “It’s like, ‘Oh, my goodness, don’t do that ever again!’ That was really tough for me.”
Turned out, she didn’t need to stress about a shutout for too long: Brengle broke the strong-serving Kvitova to take the very first game.
Now she’ll have this victory to cherish, along with another one from this year that also holds some significance: Brengle beat Serena Williams at a tuneup tournament at Auckland, New Zealand, on Jan. 4. Williams won the Australian Open later that month and hasn’t played since — she is pregnant and taking the rest of this year off — so Brengle is, for now, the last woman to defeat the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
“I’m going to hold on to that one forever,” Brengle said, holding up a fist and laughing.
Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, had been favored despite competing in only her third tournament of her comeback. She was attacked by a knife-wielding intruder at her home in the Czech Republic in December and needed surgery on her left hand, the one she uses to hold a racket.
Still without full strength in that hand Kvitova returned at the French Open in May, losing in the second round there. But then she won a grass-court title at Birmingham in June.
“I feel just really empty right now. I know my body; it’s not great. But mentally I’m really glad that it’s over. I mean, it was kind of a fairy tale, but on the other hand, it was very tough,” she said.
Kvitova made 45 unforced errors to just 11 for Brengle.
Other women’s winners included five-time champion Venus Williams, former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. Kvitova was one of a half-dozen seeded women to lose, including No. 15 Elina Vesnina (beaten by Azarenka), No. 17 Madison Keys, No. 18 Anastasija Sevastova, No. 22 Barbora Strycova and No. 25 Carla Suarez Navarro.
The action was much more straightforward in the men’s draw, with straightset victories by defending champion Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal. Also advancing were seventhseeded Marin Cilic, ninthseeded Kei Nishikori, 12thseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 16th-seeded Gilles Muller and No. 24 Sam Querrey.