Brengle ends Kvitova’s run
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 maindraw match at the All England Club until this week.
This, instead, is all the 27-yearold from Dover, Delaware, was focused on as she began playing Kvitova on Wednesday evening on Court No. 2: Please just let me win a game. The 95th-ranked Brengle did just that — and 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.
“As long as I got on the board to start, then I could relax,” Brengle said with a smile, “because, trust me, an ‘O-and-O’ stays with you.”
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, back 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,” Brengle said, holding up a fist and laughing. “I’m going to hold on to that one forever.” /
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. I felt like, I don’t know, like an animal. But a very slow animal PETRA KVITOVA