Petra Kvitova news: Former champion dumped out of St Petersburg championships

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Petra Kvitova

World No 23 Petra Kvitova was dumped out of the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy by unfancied Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.

Begu had lost the previous five meetings between the two but turned things around with a 6-4, 6-0.

The only time Begu had been able to take a set off Kvitova had been in the 2018 edition of the same tournament.

It took Begu just 69 minutes to claim her first career victory over an error-plagued Kvitova and claim a place in the quarter-finals.

Serving well from the get-go Begu raced out to a 4-1 lead in the first set before Kvitova fought back to level matters at four apiece.

Unforced errors and double faults cost Kvitova dearly in the first set and the two-time Grand Slam winner appeared to check out in the second set.

Begu for her part served with accuracy and did well to negate the power advantage the left-hander held.

Kvitova’s 35th unforced error of the day sealed the match for Begu, who moves on to face Tereza Martincova.

The Czech veteran has been struggling with injury since late 2021 and revealed ahead of the match that she wasn’t at 100 per cent.

“So I’ve been struggling with my wrist and I played in matches, but I didn’t practice. So I mean in the end, it wasn’t the best,” Kvitova said after her victory over Jule Niemeier.

“But now I feel a little bit better, so I hope you know, everything could be better, even the results.

“And, yeah, I’m here to enjoy it. I have to say, thank you to the tournament for the wildcard on the last point.

“It’s a beautiful tournament, so I hope that everything will be working for me, better than in Australia.”

The result sealed Begu’s second quarterfinal in three tournaments so far in 2022, coming after she reached the same stage at Melbourne Summer Set 2.

In a curious coincidence, Begu was named the WTA Newcomer of the year in 2011, succeeding Kvitova in receiving the award.

Begu’s last eight match-up will be her first in a WTA 500 tournament since the 2021 Gippsland Trophy.

Meanwhile, Jelena Ostapenko also delivered a dazzling performance to defeat Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 6-2 to book her place in the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinals.

Irina-Camelia Begu Petra Kvitova

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