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Petra Kvitova will play her second-ever semi-final at the French Open since reaching her first in Paris, in 2012. The Czech seventh seed defeated Laura Siegemund in their quarter-final on Wednesday 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 20 minutes to make it to the penultimate round.
Siegemund looked the shakier of the two at the outset. The opening couple of games remained on serve but Kvitova broke in the fourth game to lead 3-1. The southpaw’s shots found their mark even as the German struggled with her timing on the opposite end of the court, hitting as many errors as winners.
Kvitova did lose a couple of points per service game but her serve was potent enough to allow her to take the first set without facing a single break point. The second set began with another break on Siegemund’s serve followed by Kvitova’s consolidation to go up 2-0.
Two games later, Siegemund had her first break points in the match and while four of these were done away with erroneous returns, she did well to get the break on her fifth chance to level the set at two-all.
2020 Roland Garros: Petra Kvitova's shining moment
However, instead of a consolidation of the break back by Siegemund, what followed was the beginning of a run of service breaks.
First, Kvitova broke Siegemund for the second time in the set to lead 3-2 but was then broken right back by the German. A third service-break game ensued as Kvitova broke the 32-year-old to go up 4-3. In the eighth game of the set, Kvitova put a halt to the saga as she consolidated her break and held her serve for the second time in the set to go up 5-3.
In the ninth game, serving to stay in the match, one final error from Siegemund down match point at 30-40 put an end to her campaign in the event. Kvitova hit 22 winners to Siegemund’s 12 and had 15 unforced errors to the latter’s 20.
She won 77% points behind her first serves to the German’s 59%. For the match, the former world no. 2 finished with 61 points, 20 points more than her rival. Kvitova saved five of the 10 break points she faced in the match.
In the semi-finals, Petra Kvitova will play either fourth seed Sofia Kenin or Danielle Collins. Photo Credit: Petra Kvitova Twitter