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Petra Kvitova, fifth seed for the 2015 US Open, runs into a tough sort of game when she takes on Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova who was the final seeded player for the grand slam and has been in good form lately. Join The Roar for live scores of this third round match up from 1:00am AEST.
Kvitova has had a dominant start to her tournament, racing through her first two matches and not losing a set. In fact throughout the two matches she has only dropped nine games and has never looked challenged by her opponents Laura Siegemund and Nicole Gibbs.
For Kvitova, it is interesting to note that the US Open is by far her worst performing grand slam. She has never made it past the fourth round, while she has made at least the quarter finals in all the other grand slams. This backs up the statistics in that she clearly has trouble finding her rhythm and winning matches on the hard courts.
Schmiedlova meanwhile, is in only her third US Open and before this match had never made it past the second round. That makes this uncharted ground for her and it will be interesting to see how she goes handling the extra pressure. Her record on the hard court is also an ordinary one, much the same as Kvitova.
Her first two rounds have also been fairly dominant although she dropped a set in the second round when she took on Danka Kovinic. The first round was a straight sets demolition of Julia Georges.
The pair have never taken on each other, leaving us no history to go off. That will add an element of surprise to the match for both players.
The biggest factor that swings this match towards Schmiedlova is her youth. She is out on the circuit as a 20-year-old and desperate to make a name for her self so knocking out the fifth seed for a grand slam would be a massive leap forward.
The winner of this clash will more than likely set up a fourth round match with Andrea Petkovic, who should win comfortably when she takes on Johanna Konta in their third round clash.
Prediction: It is by far the worst of the grand slams for Kvitova historically and she will be really challenged to keep progressing here. I expect her to, based on experience winning key points, but it will be close.
Kvitova in three sets
Join The Roar for live scores of this match from 1:00am AEST on Sunday Morning and don’t forget to add your thoughts and opinions in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde