Dramatic thriller: Petra Kvitová advances at Indian Wells in crazy three-setter over Jessica Pegula

Petra Kvitová saved four match points to outlast top-seeded American Jessica Pegula in the Round of 16 on Tuesday on Stadium Court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

It took 24 points in a tiebreak to decide the 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(11) win for the two-time Wimbledon champion.

“Up and down for sure,” Kvitová said. “Definitely it’s one of the best matches I’ve played. Even tennis-wise I think it was a great match.”

All 16 remaining women's seeds were in action Tuesday, and six of the eight women's matches extended to three sets in a thrilling day for fans.

The Czech tennis star will play Greece’s Maria Sakkari, an Indian Wells finalist last year, in an evening quarterfinal Wednesday.

Third-seeded Pegula, 29, entered the draw as the highest-seeded American at Indian Wells since Serena Williams was the top seed in 2016. Pegula was viewed as someone who could potentially be the first American woman to win this tournament since Williams did so in 2001.

But from her first match, Pegula couldn’t seem to find her rhythm. She lost her first set of the tournament versus unseeded Camila Giorgi of Italy before coming back to win the match.

Then, in her next match, Pegula lost the first set to 26th-seeded Anastasia Potapova of Russia before another tightly contested comeback that took more than two hours to decide.

On Tuesday, Pegula lost the first set again but wasn’t as fortunate playing from behind. She went up a break to win the second set but seemed to feel the pressure of playing on Stadium Court against a Grand Slam champion.

Kvitová, 33, missed a series of shots that either overshot or just caught the sideline to keep Pegula in the match. But the American couldn’t capitalize on a series of chances to take the match.

“It was a disaster at some points,” said Kvitová, who reached her 35th Masters 1000 quarterfinal. “I was just making a mess.”

Pegula held a 4-2 lead in the tiebreak, but then allowed Kvitová to score the next three points, and the two took turns trading shots and racking up points. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Finally, with the score even at 11, Pegula crushed a return into the net to give Kvitová another lead. On the next rally, Kvitová just caught the right sideline and tossed her racket into the air when it was not called out.

Kvitová is back into the Indian Wells quarterfinals for the third time, but the first time since 2016.

“I just needed to go for it,” Kvitová said. “In the tight moments, I just needed to go for it. So I did.”

Andrew John covers the BNP Paribas Open for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Petra Kvitová wins over Jessica Pegula in crazy three-setter