BIRMINGHAM, England -- Garbine Muguruza's preparations to defend her Wimbledon title took a blow when she lost to Barbora Strycova in the second round of the Birmingham Classic on Thursday.
Muguruza sometimes looked languid in responding to the challenge of a feisty and hard-working Czech opponent, and occasionally became irritated by the difficult windy conditions during her 6-2, 6-4 loss to Strycova.
"I like to fight, on and off the court," Strycova said. "Sometimes you fight and get a reward. You have to play tricky in these conditions, and I did that, although I admit in that last game I was very nervous."
Muguruza led 4-2 in the second set, only to lose the advantage again when she decided to move forward and was unable to make her net attacks count.
"We have a lot of time now to prepare [for Wimbledon]. In a way it's good," Muguruza said. "I wish I could play more matches, but nothing really worries me."
Earlier, defending champion Petra Kvitova beat Daria Gavrilova 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.
Gavrilova, who had won the last two matchups against Kvitova, made errors at important moments, including four double faults during her first two service games, which she lost.
"The conditions were tough in that wind," Kvitova said. "But that's fine. The grass helped me for sure. We hadn't played each other on this surface before."
Kvitova, the fourth seed, next plays Julia Goerges, who beat Ashleigh Barty 7-6 (6), 6-3.