By Kieran Jackson | Saturday, June 23, 2018

 

Defending champion Petra Kvitova powered into her second straight Birmingham final vs. Magdalena Rybarikova.

Photo credit: @British Tennis

Petra Kvitova is one match away from successfully defending her title in Birmingham, after beating world No. 30 Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3, 6-2 in their semifinal clash on Saturday.

Kvitova, who won the singles title at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, was the dominant player throughout, proving too strong from the back of the court against her Romanian opponent.

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The 28-year-old is yet to drop a set this week, and today’s win was her 51st career victory on grass.

The Czech No. 2 behind Karolina Pliskova is also through to her fifth final of the year, and has now overtaken Simona Halep with the most wins on tour this season, with 36.

“Amazing statistics this week!”, said a glowing Kvitova. “So far this season is incredible, and I really can’t imagine a better season so far.”

“We’re good friends [Magdalena and I], so it’ll be a fun final. I know definitely she likes to play on grass, I remember our last meeting in New Haven in a final as well, so it’ll be fun to watch and fun to play, hopefully.”

Kvitova will play Magdalena Rybarikova in tomorrow’s final, after the Slovakian beat Garbiñe Muguruza’s conqueror Barbora Strycova 7-6(1), 6-4.

Rybarikova, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last year, thrives on grass, with her flat groundstroke game giving her the edge in a closely contested match.

The world No. 19, who also won the title in Birmingham in 2009, had to fight back from going down a break in both sets, but came out on top to set up a mouth-watering conclusion to the week tomorrow.

“I knew it was going to be a tough match”, said the 29-year-old. “She’s such a tricky player and she’s amazingly talented.”

“Maybe she was the favorite because she beat me before, and I think it was a very good match and we had some fun on the court.”

Kvitova and Rybarikova have played each other six times, with Kvitova leading the head-to-head 5-1. Yet tomorrow’s final will be their first encounter on grass, a surface which undeniably suits both players down to a tee.

Freelance sports journalist Kieran Jackson is covering the grass-court season ahead of Wimbledon for Tennis Now. For more of Kieran's tennis coverage, follow him on Twitter.