For her part, Kvitova, beaming with confidence following her third-round win against five-time champion Venus Williams, wants to play down the comparisons with 2011 and her current run. “I can’t really compare them,” she said.
“My game, my personality on court is different now.” The results, however, are the same – and that is surely no bad thing for the No.6 seed. Kvitova is one of three Czech women through to the Ladies’ Singles quarter-finals, a first at The Championships. One is guaranteed to reach the semi-finals – Kvitova set up a showdown with Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, while Lucie Safarova is also in the bottom half of the draw after beating compatriot Tereza Smitkova earlier on Monday. No nation was better represented in either singles draw at the start of the second week. Kvitova can be the best kind of bully on court – hard-hitting, unrelenting and capable of firing back a smart answer when put in an awkward spot. So fierce was her return game that at times Peng found the ball back at her feet before she had recovered her ground. The Chinese 28-year-old cannot generate as much power as Kvitova but she was able to rechannel it, and her quick hands and double-fisted drives from both wings regularly wrong-footed the 2011 champion to keep her in touch in the first set. After saving three early break points, Peng might have stolen a lead at 3-3 when Kvitova overcooked a forehand to trail 30-40, but the Czech fired her wey out of trouble with some more huge hitting from her leftie forehand. With that, Kvitova raised her game, bringing up break point at 3-4 with a smash, and powering another sterling return at Peng’s feet before holding to love to claim the set. Another ripped forehand return at 1-1 in the second paved the way for an earlier break in the second, and with that Peng’s challenge faded. The Czech gave up just one unforced error in the second set and finished the match with 25 winners. In this kind of form, she will take some stopping.
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