Less than year after attack, Kvitova faces Williams at Open

NEW YORK—Petra Kvitova did not come to the U.S. Open planning to reach the quarterfinals or beat a top-five opponent to do so.

It's been less than nine months, after all, since the two-time Wimbledon winner's racket-holding hand needed surgery from a knife attack.

Here she is, though. Kvitova earned the biggest victory of her comeback Sunday night, eliminating No. 3 seed Garbine Muguruza, the reigning Wimbledon champion, by coming back in each set to win 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.

"I came here without any expectations," the 13th-seeded Kvitova said.

She is in the quarterfinals in New York for only the second time in 10 tournament appearances; the other such run came in 2015, when Kvitova lost at that stage to eventual champion Flavia Pennetta.

"I'm really enjoying it more than before," Kvitova said.

Now another showdown looms: Kvitova will play seven-time major champion Venus Williams on Tuesday with a semifinal berth at stake.

Williams, seeded No. 9, beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 earlier Sunday.

Williams is, at 37, the oldest woman who entered the tournament. She is also the only one left who has won the U.S. Open, collecting titles in 2000 and 2001.

Asked whether those championships, long ago as they were, offer her any advantage against other players, Williams joked that if other players decide to just hand over matches, she'd gladly take it.

"I'm accepting all major credit cards," Williams said, "and unforced errors."

Kvitova still hasn't quite regained full strength in her left hand, the one operated on after being cut by an intruder at her home in the Czech Republic in December.