Carla Suarez Navarro has booked her place in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships by sealing a 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory over Petra Kvitova.
Navarro was the stronger of the two in the early stages of the first set as she snatched a double break, but Kvitova was able to respond with a break of her own.
Despite taking her opponent's serve, Kvitova struggled to find her feet and she was forced to relinquish the first set in the United Arab Emirates.
In the second set, both players lost serve twice to keep the contest all square on 3-3, but it was Kvitova who took the edge by grabbing a vital break point to draw level on sets.
There had been a number of tight battles between the competitors, but both struggled to create break points in the third and deciding set as games went by the way of serve.
However, it was Navarro who earned a crucial break to push on and secure match point.
Danielle Joynson
