Petra Kvitova beats Yulia Putintseva in marathon match; Garbine Muguruza toppled at Indian Wells

The twice Wimbledon champion finally triumphed in three hours and 17 minutes as a frustrated Putintseva smashed her racket on the court after coming so close to an upset.

“It’s kind of tough to explain, because it was really up-and-down,” Kvitova told reporters after her 14th straight victory, matching the longest steak of her career.

“My mental side wasn’t really tough, I have to say. It was always, like, a good point and I was up mentally, and then it was a bad point, and I was down. That was almost all match.

“I couldn’t show the game which I played the last few weeks.”

Romanian top seed Simona Halep used a superior serve to beat Czech Kristyna Pliskova 6-4 6-4 but six other seeds were beaten in daytime action.

Johanna Konta (11), Ashleigh Barty (16), Svetlana Kuznetsova (19), Elise Mertens (22), Barbora Strycova (25) and Agnieszka Radwanska (31) were all eliminated.

Radwanska was beaten by Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who continued her barnstorming form with a 6-3 6-2 victory two days after ousting former world number one Maria Sharapova.

Osaka dominated on first serve, and also broke four times. The 20-year-old might get a chance to beat another big name, potentially facing third seed Garbiñe Muguruza in the third round.

Briton Konta fell to Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova 7-6(5) 6-4, while Australian Barty was beaten 6-4 6-2 by Maria Sakkari of Greece.

Belgian Mertens fell to China’s Wang Qiang 4-6 6-3 6-3.

Russian Kuznetsova, last year’s runner-up, was ousted 6-4 6-3 by Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and Czech Strycova also went out in straight sets, 7-5 6-4, to Petra Martic of Croatia.

Vickery upsets third seed Muguruza at Indian Wells

Garbine Muguruza during her second round match against Sachia Vickery. (Source: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)

American qualifier Sachia Vickery completed an astonishing comeback to stun third seed Garbine Muguruza 2-6 7-5 6-1 in a second-round win at the BNP Paribas Open in California on Friday.

Seemingly down and out trailing 3-0 in the second set, Vickery raised her game, brought the Indian Wells centre court crowd alive and eventually wore down an increasingly frustrated Muguruza.

The Spaniard crumpled in the third set as 100th-ranked Vickery clinched the biggest win of her young career.

“I’ve just worked so hard for so many years and I’ve always been so close but just could never really get over that hump,” 22-year-old Vickery said in an on-court interview. “This is just the most amazing night of my life and I couldn’t be happier. Honestly I couldn’t believe it. I just tried to fight every point and just hang in there. The crowd was amazing and got behind me.”