Kvitova shows Venus Williams the exit of Qatar Open
Third seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic has showed the exit to tennis giant Venus Williams in three sets of tennis at the Qatar Open in Doha.
Kvitova braved a late rally from multiple Grand Slam champion Williams who even wasted a match point in the tie-breaker of the deciding set.
Kvitova, 23, won the three-setter 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7) to remain on course for a semi-final clash against Li Na of China at the six-day event.
Australian Open champion Li Na of China survived a mid-match scare to reach the third round of the $2.5m Qatar Open tournament.
Na, 31, beat giant-killer Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 to remain unbeaten in 2014.
The powerful baseliner, who won the Australian Open in Melbourne last month, was on court for 2 hours and 13 minutes.
"Yes, I had a good start but she played really well in the second set,” Li Na said about her match.
"The conditions were tough. It was cold, but I am still very confident,” the affable Chinese added after the marathon match that lasted more than two hours.
Li Na said she was eager to play more matches in the coming weeks and months to remain at the top.
"I want to remain confident and I can do that by playing more matches,” Na said.
After her three-set upset win over Williams, Kvitova said she was happy to win her first match in Doha unlike when she lost in the opening round at the Australian Open.
"Yes, definitely,” Kvitova said when asked if her win over Williams would make up for her early exit at the Australian Open.
"It was really quick in the first two sets. I played nothing really special but I had to fight in the third set.
"I am really glad that I came back in the third set,” the 2011 Wimbledon champion said.
Watch Petra Kvitova's 2014 Qatar Total Open Hot Shot video here:
Source: The Peninsula | Image: Ray Toh in the QL Flickr group
