Who is Petra Cetkovska?

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INDIAN WELLS -- Always thought it was really cool when there would be a massive upset by an unknown at a Grand Slam tournament and Hall of Famer Bud Collins would fire off one of the first questions at the player in his rich voice.

Who IS Jill Craybas?

Or something like that. The still-stunned player would look a little flustered and generally give a decent, and sometimes funny, answer.

That’s what I was thinking out here this afternoon at the BNP Paribas Open: Just who is Petra Cetkovska?

She defeated No. 3-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia in three sets in the second round. Of course, Dementieva was destined to go three sets. Isn’t that nearly always the case? It’s so nice that you can be sure of a few things in life: death, taxes and Dementieva playing three sets.

This was the biggest victory of Cetkovska’s career. The player from the Czech Republic is no prodigy, now 24, having had some decent success at the ITF level, winning 15 singles titles. She once lost, 6-0, 6-0, to Ana Ivanovic, at the French Open last year.

No matter the nationality or the sport, it inevitably comes down to self-belief.

‘It’s a very individual sport, and we always have to believe it’s your turn,’ Cetkovska said. ‘When you’re losing your matches all the time, which happened to me the last six or seven months -- I haven’t won a lot of matches -- it was very difficult. I just try to believe that it’ll turn one day. I will start to win the matches again.’

-Lisa Dillman