Petra Kvitova’s schedule from hell ended in defeat with the Czech No. 10 seed falling to Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 7-6(5) in a second round that was bizarrely concluded on Saturday – the sixth day of the tournament following extensive delays.
In a match that should have been played on Thursday but was postponed twice due to the rain, Kvitova suffered her earliest Wimbledon exit since 2009.
The clash between the two- time Wimbledon champion and Makarova was the last second round to be concluded in the tournament and Kvitova admits it was a strange situation.
“It’s very weird, I have to say. I felt like I was stuck in the second round for a while,” said Kvitova.
“Yeah, I think that the tournament was really, like, weird for me this time. I couldn’t really describe how. But I was waiting all day long almost every day to be scheduled on, and didn’t really have a chance to finish or step on the court. So it was really weird.”
Players like Venus Williams and Carla Suarez Navarro had already booked places in the fourth round on Friday while Kvitova and Makarova still had to play their second round on Saturday.
“We were having a laugh at it. What we can do, right, in the locker room. It is how it is. I wish my matches had been scheduled a little bit better, but it’s the past now,” said Kvitova.
No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska moved into the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Katerina Siniakova to set up a showdown with 19th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, who dismissed 2014 runner-up Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-3, to take her match-winning streak on grass to eight matches.
Fifth-seeded Simona Halep and ninth-seeded Madison Keys set up a mouth-watering last-16 clash against one another with victories over Kiki Bertens and Alize Cornet respectively.
“I’m really happy that I won this match,” said Halep, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2014.
“It was important for me. It was a big challenge. I knew she’s in good form and she is playing good tennis at the moment.
“She did a great job at the French Open, so she had a lot of confidence before this match.”