WIMBLEDON, England — For the many highs and lows her young career has had, Wimbledon has remained something of a constant for Petra Kvitova, who has reached the quarterfinals or better in each of the last five years and won the tournament twice, in 2011 and last year.
But Saturday afternoon, what had looked like a routine stroll for the second-seeded Kvitova to her 10th consecutive victory at the tournament was derailed in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 defeat by Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, the No. 28 seed, on Centre Court.
With her propensity to follow poor play with brilliance and brilliance with more bafflingly bad play, few Kvitova losses can be considered complete shocks.