Emotions flood back for Kvitova

PARIS — Petra Kvitova stood wide-eyed and perfectly still, scarcely believing she was through to her first French Open quarterfinal in eight years after winning against Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-4 on Monday.

When the chair umpire climbed down and pointed to the mark confirming her two-handed backhand landed just in, she released her emotions. The seventh- seeded Czech player looked up in the air, then blew kisses and waved to the small crowd gathered on Court Philippe Chatrier.

“I got a bit emotional last two points of my match,” she said. “My memories, happy memories. When I made my comeback here in 2017, when I step on the Philippe Chatrier, I couldn’t really imagine me to be in the quarterfinal of this slam. Everything just came back to me.”

Reaching the last eight was less poignant for top-ranked Novak Djokovic, considering he has done so every year since 2010.

He made sure of an 11th straight French quarterfinal and extended his Open-era record at Roland Garros by beating 15th-seeded Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, with the roof shut on Chatrier to keep out the persistent rain.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t dropped a set so far, but his face looked flushed after some heavy exchanges withstanding the Russian slugger’s huge forehand.

“It was more difficult than maybe the result shows,” Djokovic said. “The result is three sets to love, but I think we were equal on the points.”

Earlier, Kvitova spoke about her emotional reaction. Roland Garros was where the two-time Grand Slam champ made her comeback three years ago after shewas attacked by a knife-wielding robber in her home and suffered serious injuries to her left hand.

“It’s been a long ride definitely. Everything came to my mind,” she said. “My whole family, people who I loved to help me through the tough, tough time. Everything came back.”