Petra Kvitova to meet Elena Svitolina in Qatar Total Open prequarterfinal

Doha: Petra Kvitova continued her impressive form at the Qatar Total Open as she defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4 to book her place in the last 16.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, who has been continuously improving since her return to the game after she was injured in a knife attack at her home in December 2016, had stormed through her opener against Cagla Buyukakcay on Tuesday. But she was made to fight against Radwanska, who won the first set and toiled for 2 hours and 35 minutes.

After losing the first set, Kvitova took the second without much of a problem and at 5-4 in the third, she was serving for the match when Radwanska put up a mini fight at the last moment. The Pole had three break points, but Kvitova served her way through to set up a meeting with Elena Svitolina in the last 16.

Ukrainian Svitolina, one of the fast emerging forces in world tennis, defeated Czech Republic's Marketa Vondrousova 6-2, 6-4 to book her berth in the pre-quarterfinals.

"I didn't know much about her (Vondrousova) going into the match because she didn't play so many matches in the big tournaments. So that's why it was a bit tricky, and she's a bit tricky player. Left hand is a bit uncomfortable, but I was really happy with the way I handled the situation. Just, you know, solid performance for the first round," said Svitolina.

The 23-year old said she was ready to meet her next opponent.

“I want to see where I am with my level. I want to see what I improved from the years before because both of them I played quite a long time ago and now I'm a completely different player. I play differently. I'm more confident with my game,” said Svitolina. “So it's very interesting for me to see both of them because I lost to both of them before, and yeah, it will be a good chance for me to really see what I have to, yeah, what I improved and see what I have to do more.”