• French Open

Kuznetsova ousts Kvitova in three-hour battle

ESPN staff
May 31, 2014
Svetlana Kuznetsova won the French Open in 2009 © Getty Images
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Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the last 16 of the French Open after beating fifth seed Petra Kvitova 6-7(3) 6-1 9-7 in three hours and 13 minutes.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova lost the first set on a tiebreak despite recovering a break from 3-1 down.

Former Wimbledon champion Kvitova began to struggle as she received treatment for a back problem when trailing 2-1 and a break in the second set.

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Following a lengthy off-court medical timeout, Kvitova was unable to prevent Kuznetsova from taking the set to level the encounter.

Kvitova once again received treatment away from the court but managed to race into a 3-1 lead in the deciding set. Kuznetsova, though, hit back to lead 4-3.

Kvitova saved two match points as she twice served for the win in the final set. However, when the Czech trailed 8-7, she produced a double fault to go 0-40 and give Kuznetsova match points and then hit a 65th unforced error to hand the match to her opponent.

Simona Halep, the highest seed remaining in the draw, booked her place in the fourth round following a 6-3 6-0 win over María-Teresa Torro-Flor.

"I feel really great now, because I won in two sets," said the fourth seed, who defeated Heather Watson in the previous round. "It's the third match in a row here where I played really good tennis."

Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic was beaten 6-3 6-3 by Lucie Safarova, while sixth seed Jelena Jankovic defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-2.

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