Two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova stunned by American Madison Brengle

Madison Brengle knew, of course, that her opponent, Petra Kvitova, was a two-time Wimbledon champion and a popular pick to win the title again this year.

Brengle also was aware, of course, that she herself never had won so much as one main-draw match at the All England Club until this week.

This, instead, is all the 27-year-old from Dover, Del., was focused on as she began playing Kvitova on Wednesday evening on Court No. 2: Please, just let me win a game. The 95th-ranked Brengle did just that — and much, much more, stunning the 11th-seeded Kvitova 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 to reach the third round at Wimbledon.

The reason for Brengle’s preoccupation with taking merely a single game? In her Wimbledon debut in 2015, she lost to Venus Williams 6-0, 6-0.

“So, like, that’s always in my head when I’m out here,” Brengle said, pointing a finger at her right temple. “It’s like, ‘Oh, my goodness, don’t do that ever again!’ That was really tough for me.”

Now she’ll have this victory to cherish, along with another one from this year that also holds some significance: Brengle beat Serena Williams at a tuneup tournament at Auckland, New Zealand, back on Jan. 4. Williams went on to win the Australian Open later that month and hasn’t played since — she is pregnant and taking at least the rest of this year off.

Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, had been favored by some British bookmakers to lift the trophy at fortnight’s end, despite competing in only her third tournament of her comeback. She was attacked by a knife-wielding intruder at her home in the Czech Republic in December and needed surgery on her left hand, the one she uses to hold a racket.

Kvitova said she felt ill Wednesday, and she was visited by a trainer in the third set. The temperature soared toward 85 degrees.

“When the match [got] longer and longer, I felt a little bit sick and tired. So I couldn’t really move. I was so slow,” she said.

Brengle took advantage by playing plenty of slices and changing speeds and angles. In the first and last sets combined, Kvitova made 45 unforced errors to 11 for Brengle.

Kvitova was one of a half-dozen seeded women to lose on Day 3, a group that also included No. 15 Elina Vesnina (beaten by new mom Victoria Azarenka, a former No. 1), No. 17 Madison Keys, No. 18 Anastasija Sevastova, No. 22 Barbora Strycova and No. 25 Carla Suarez Navarro. No. 10 Venus Williams advanced, beating Wang Qiang of China 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The action was much more straightforward in the men’s draw, with straight-set victories by defending champion Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, who has won the last 26 Grand Slam sets he has played.

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