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Poland's Magdalena Frech admitted she was "shaking" after clinching the biggest victory of her career on Monday in Charleston. Frech, who is enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 87 in the world, was 7-6 (6) 3-2 up over world No.
29 Petra Kvitova before the Czech decided to retire the match. Previously, Frech was 0-22 against top-50 players. It was Frech's first top-50 victory and it came after former world No. 2 Kvitova was forced to retire due to a thigh injury.
Frech said she was sorry for Kvitova and added she was so nervous because the biggest victory of her career was at stake. "I'm still shaking. Obviously, I didn't want to win that way ... I'm really sorry for her, but it's my biggest win, and I was so nervous, especially in the second set when I was 0-2, so I knew I needed to play and to push her," Frech explained after the match, per the WTA Tour website.
Kvitova on retiring to Frech
"I really wanted to stay out there and fight today but unfortunately my body didn’t agree with my mind. I want to give a special thanks to Bob and Eleanor for taking such good care of us here and putting on this beautiful event @creditonecharleston.
I really hope to be back," Kvitova wrote on Twitter. Kvitova earned the first break of the match in the second game but Frech broke back in the third game. Kvitova again broke Frech in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead but the Pole responded with back-to-back breaks to open a 5-4 lead.
Frech failed to serve out for the first set in the 10th game and the set eventually went into a tie-break. In the tie-break, Frech opened a 6-2 lead but Kvitova saved four consecutive break points to tie the tie-break at six points apiece.
However, Frech kept her focus after missing out on four set points as she won the next two points to win a tight opener. Kvitova started the second set with a 2-0 lead, before losing the following three games and retiring the match.