Barbora Krejcikova saved eight match points to beat Taylor Townsend 1-6 7-6 (15-13) 6-3 setting up a fourth round match against Jessica Pegula, who beat Li Ann 6-1 6-2.
Townsend was attempting to reach the quarter finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career.
Krejcikova took the early 1-0 lead in the first game of the opening set, Townsend reeled off six consecutive games with three break points to win the first set 6-1.
Townsend won three of the next four games of the second set with a break. Krejcikova broke straight back to draw level to 3-3. Krejcikova broke serve in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead. Townsend broke straight back in the 12th game to force a tie-break. Krejcicova saved the first match point in the 10th game.
The Czech player fended off seven more match points in the 26-minute tie-break, recovering from 3-6. Krejcikova saved the eighth match point with an unreturnable serve before converting her fourth set point with a overhead.
Krejcikova broke serve in the sixth game of the third set to take a 4-2 lead with a backhand volley winner. Townsend broke straight back in the seventh game to close the gap to 3-4. Krejcikova saved a game point with a backhand return winner before breaking serve in the eighth game after two netted balls by Townsend to take a 5-3 lead.
Krejcikova served out the win in the eighth game to seal the third set 6-3.
“I mean, what a match. What a match. Just four months ago I was off the court and couldn’t play. I had a huge pain in my back and didn’t know if I’d ever play again”, said Krejcikova.
Krejcikova leads 2-1 in her three head-to-head matches over her next opponent Jessica Pegula. The Czech player beat her US rival 6-3 6-3 at the 2024 WTA Finals in Rhyadh.
