Badosa resists Kvitova's attacks and will be in the round of 16 for the first time

A few weeks after retiring due to injury against

in the round of 16 at Roland Garros,

earned a place in the same round at Wimbledon, where she had never gone so far and appears without giving up a set.

The Spaniard, seeded fourth, beat

7-5, 7-6(4), in two hours and five minutes.

This Monday she will face

, winner of the tournament in 2019 and to whom she recently lost at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Alize Cornet left

's winning sequence in 37 consecutive games

, which she defeated 6-4 and 6-2.

The world number one hasn't lost a match since she fell to

in the second round in Dubai in February.

In this period she has won the titles of Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome and Roland-Garros.

On a windy and uncomfortable afternoon for tennis, in his first match at the Central, Badosa met a veteran specialist.

Kvitova, champion in 2011 and 2014, retains a good hand at 32 years old.

On the eve of the tournament she clinched Eastbourne with her fifth title on this surface.

She started off intimidating, taking the first game to return thanks to two big crosscourt backhands and even having a ball to go up 3-0 and serve.

She didn't succeed, but her high percentage of success with her first allowed her to then neutralize two threats on her own serve and defend the acquired advantage after a very long fourth game.

Robustness against risk

Paula needed solidity, keeping the ball in circulation and waiting for the mistakes of a tennis player used to exposing, with a style that is based on the success with the initial shots and the ability to solve the net.

As soon as the ball passed five or six times over the tape, the point fell on the Spanish side.

The situation was repeated two games later, this time with a 0-40 that Badosa could not take advantage of either.

She had to wait for her seventh

option from her, already at the limit of the first set, to even the score.

Irregular, a victim of the pressure she felt in each of the service games, the Czech later delivered the set with a double fault.

More stable in the second set, it was Kvitova who struck the Spaniard's serve, unable to convert any of her nine break attempts.

Badosa reached the tiebreaker alive and maintained the strength that she had been showing throughout the match.

"Beating Kvitova on grass is one of the great challenges in this sport. She has always been a great inspiration for me. When I played the junior tournament here, I saw her win the title at the Central," he said on court after the match. .

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• tennis

• Paula Badosa

• Garbiñe Muguruza