Brengle upsets two-time Wimbledon champ
Defeats No. 11 Kvitova, advances to third round
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, Delaware, was focused on as she began playing Kvitova on Wednesday on Court No. 2: Please just let me win a game. The 95thranked Brengle did just that — and much more, stunning the 11th-seeded Kvitova 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 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,” said Brengle, pointing to 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 for too long: Brengle broke the strong-serving Kvitova to take the 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 went on to win the Australian Open later that month and hasn’t played since — she is pregnant and taking at least the rest of this year off — so Brengle is, for the moment, the last woman to defeat the 23-time Grand Slam champion.
“That’s my thing,” said Brengle, holding up a fist and laughing. “I’m going to hold on to that one forever.”
Kvitova, Wimbledon champ in 2011 and 2014, had been favored by some bookmakers to lift the trophy at fortnight’s end, despite competing in only the third tournament of her comeback. She was attacked by a knife-wielding intruder at her home 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, losing in the second round. But then she won a grass-court title at Birmingham in June.
Kvitova said she felt ill Wednesday, and she was visited by a trainer in the third set. The temperature soared toward 85 degrees after being in the low 70s the prior two days.
“When the match (got) longer and longer, I felt a little bit sick and tired. So I couldn’t really move. I was so slow,” she said.
Brengle took advantage by playing plenty of slices and changing speeds and angles. She was out-hit by a wide margin in the second set, but her steadier play in the third was enough. In the first and last sets combined, Kvitova made 45 unforced errors to 11 for Brengle.