Marketa Vondrousova became emotional during her fourth-round match at the US Open before going on to win in three sets. The recent Wimbledon champion was physically struggling against Peyton Stearns and looked close to tears as she took some tablets during the second set. And it proved successful as the No 9 seed came through 6-7(3) 6-3 6-2.
Vondrousova found herself in trouble on Monday as she trailed 21-year-old Stearns after losing the opener in a tiebreak. The 24-year-old was able to take an early break lead in the second set but the world No 59 got back on serve as the Czech star started struggling.
Having led 3-0, the world No 9 sat down at 3-2 after Stearns broke back and looked close to tears as she approached her bench. “Clearly very emotional out there, clearly struggling but battling on,” retired pro Andrea Petkovic said of Vondrousova.
The Wimbledon champion then took some medicine as the commentators continued to speculate about a possible injury. “She’s been touching her upper back and left shoulder since the end of the first set, that change of ends really confirmed it,” Nick Lester added.
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After the emotional changeover, Vondrousova immediately broke the American again to regain her lead. And it became a rollercoaster second set as both players traded breaks once more before the Czech star closed out the second 6-3 to force a decider.
The medicine had well and truly kicked in by the third and final set as Vondrousova raced to a 3-0 lead with the double break. Stearns came back again, getting one break back, but it was short-lived as the ninth seed broke once again and went on to close out a three-set victory.
After the match, Vondrousova admitted that the young American proved to be a tough challenge as she remained tight-lipped over her physical setback. “She was playing great from the beginning so I just tried to stay in the game and focus on every point,” the 24-year-old said.
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“She’s a very dangerous player and she has a great future ahead of her so it was a very tough match.” Vondrousova has now made back-to-back quarter-finals at Grand Slams as she lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish at Wimbledon last month.
It also marks her third career quarter-final at a Major, and the last two times she has made it all the way to the final. But Vondrousova admitted that she had surprise herself by backing up her run at SW19 with another strong showing.
“I’m very happy. You know, I actually didn’t expect it after Wimby, it was a lot of pressure,” she confessed. “Yeah, I’m feeling good. I’m just trying to enjoy the came and I feel like every match is tough. We’ll see what happens next.”
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