During day four of the US Open, Czech Republic’s Petra Cetkovska produced the biggest upset in the women’s draw as she stunned 2014 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki in the second round. Facing a player ranked 144 places above her, Cetkovska endured three hours and five minutes on the court in the humid weather to eventually clinch the 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (1), win. The victory was a massive achievement for the Czech considering 12 months ago, she was facing the daunting prospect of back surgery.
Cetkovska’s career has been plagued by injuries. After achieving a career ranking high of 25 in June 2012, She missed the first three months of 2013 due to a stress foot fracture followed by a hip injury which sidelined her from the 2014 Australian Open. Unfortunately, her injury woes continued. During July she said that she was unable to walk following an ITF tournament in July. Then a few months later following her second round exit to Petra Kvitova at the US Open in 2014, Cetkovska underwent a MRI on her back. The scan revealed that she had a tear in her labrum as well as a hip issue.
“It started to be really painful, so I got an MRI back here (in New York). They said there is a tear in the labrum and something else on the other side of the hip with the bone”. She recounted following her match.
“So I came back and I asked some very good doctors about what do they think about it. They both agreed this is worth the operation. With the exercises, it’s a 50% chance it might heal. I decided to do the operation. It was at the end of September. Then I was one month on crutches and I could start to run slowly after three months”.
Due to the procedure, Cetkovska missed the first three months of the 2015 season. Her return to the tour was a painful experience with three successive first round exits before her first match win at an ITF $50,000 event in Surbiton, Great Britain. As the season progressed, so did her results. After successfully qualifying for the main draw at Wimbledon (losing to Timea Babos in round 1), she reached back-to-back finals on the ITF Circuit. In August she won her first title of the year at a $75,000 event in Poland, beating Jeļena Ostapenko in the final round.
Due to her troublesome 12 months, it is understandable why the Czech is delighted with her victory. The win over Wozniacki is without a doubt a happy ending to Cetkovska’s turbulent year-long struggle.
In her first Grand Slam third round since 2013, the 30-year-old will play 28th seed Flavia Pennetta. Cetkovska has played her twice before (2009 and 2012) and is yet to beat her.
