Former champion Petra Kvitova avoids upset to reach 4th round at Wimbledon
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Petra Kvitova avoided becoming the latest former champion to be knocked out in the first week at Wimbledon, rallying from a break down in the final set Saturday to beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and reach the fourth round.
The match had been halted Friday with Makarova up 2-1 in the decider, but Kvitova broke right back when play resumed and won the next two games as well. After losing her own serve, the Czech player broke again for a 5-3 lead and then converted her third match point with a forehand winner.
"I didn't sleep very well, but that doesn't matter, I came on the court and tried to fight for every point," Kvitova said.
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Kvitova won Wimbledon in 2011 but has struggled to match that performance since and has slipped from first to eighth in the rankings. She has a good chance of reaching her second final at the All England Club, however, having seen second-seeded Victoria Azarenka and former champion Maria Sharapova already eliminated on her side of the draw.
"It's still so far away," Kvitova said. "I'm the highest-ranked player (left) in my half, but there's still a lot of great players over there."
Later Saturday, top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were set to play their third-round matches, also looking to avoid further upsets after seven-time champion Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were both eliminated early.
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Because of rain over the last two days, Wimbledon organizers were playing a bit of catch-up with the schedule on Saturday.
Among several other matches that had been postponed, No. 20 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to set up a fourth-round meeting with second-seeded Andy Murray, who won in straight sets on Friday.
Two more seeded players went out, as No. 22 Juan Monaco of Argentina fell 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-4 to Frenchman Kenny De Schepper, while No. 26 Benoit Paire of France lost 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
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As is traditional on the middle Saturday of the tournament, the Royal Box on Centre Court was filled with a number of invited sports stars, this year mainly British gold-medal winners from the London Olympics. Among those getting the biggest ovation from the crowd were cyclists Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton — as well as Murray, who donned a suit and tie to make a brief appearance in the box to celebrate his singles gold medal won on Centre Court.