PARIS – Petra Kvitova stood wide-eyed and perfectly still, scarcely believing she was through to her first French Open quarterfinal in eight years after winning against Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-4 on Monday.
When the chair umpire climbed down and pointed to the mark confirming her two-handed backhand landed just in, she released her emotions. The seventh-seeded Czech player looked up in the air, then blew kisses and waved to the small crowd gathered on Court Philippe Chatrier, the tournament’s main stadium.
“Yeah, I got a bit emotional last two points of my match,” she said. “My memories, happy memories. When I made my comeback here in 2017, when I step on the Philippe Chatrier, I couldn’t really imagine me to be in the quarterfinal of this slam. Everything just came back to me.”
Reaching the last eight was less poignant for Novak Djokovic, considering he has done so every year since 2010.
He made sure of an 11th straight French quarterfinal and extended his Open-era record at Roland Garros by beating 15th-seeded Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, with the roof shut on Chatrier to keep out the persistent rain.