By Erik Gudris | Saturday, October 31, 2015
Petra Kvitova battled back from 1-5 down in the second set to eventually beat Maria Sharapova and reach the Singapore final.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Even Petra Kvitova finds it a bit hard to believe she is now in the ultimate round at the WTA Finals in Singapore. But the former event champion showed off her best tennis when she needed it in Saturday's semifinal.
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Kvitova produced nearly perfect tennis as she held off favorite Maria Sharapova for a straight sets win.
"Your two best friends are Lucie Safarova and a girl named round robin," on-court announcer Andrew Krasny asked Kvitova." That was referring to Kvitova needing help from her Fed Cup teammate earlier in the week. Safarova's win over Angelique Kerber allowed Kvitova, despite her losing round robin record, to advance into the final four.
"You are right probably," Kvitova said. "I did not expect that. I had two losses in my group. I did not expect to play today. And I knew Maria would play strong. She played so well in the group. But I knew I had the game to beat her."
Both players traded service breaks to start the opening set. It wasn't until the seventh game that Kvitova started to make her presence known in the baseline rallies with Sharapova. A potent return followed up by a strong forehand gave Kvitova the first break of the match for 4-3.
Backing that up with stellar defense, Kvitova soon found herself with another break point that was also a set point against Sharapova. The Russian superstar, playing in her first event since Wimbledon, found herself falling backwards as she hit her shot into the net, thus giving Kvitova the set for 6-3.
On the changeover, Sharapova's coach Sven Groeneveld told her to "refocus" for the second set. That she did.
Sharapova, playing with controlled aggression, broke Kvitova in the opening game. After weathering some intense rallies, Sharapova knocked off a perfect forehand volley in the third game that eventually led to her breaking again for 3-0.
A confident Sharapova later marched out to a 5-1 lead and a third set looked almost inevitable. Almost, since that was when Kvitova began her comeback.
Though Sharapova served for the set at 5-2, Kvitova raised her own level and started hitting winner after winner. The lefty Czech, now with 0-40, broke Sharapova after the Russian sent a forehand into the net.
Kvitova's level dropped just enough in the next game to soon hand Sharapova a set point. But Kvitova recovered by knocking a stinging backhand into the ad corner to level at deuce. Kvitova then held serve once again for 5-4.
The Czech, now finding her power and range again, dominated Sharapova from the baseline. With pounding groundstrokes that pushed Sharapova further away from the baseline, Kvitova broke again to put herself square at 5-all.
Both players held serve thus setting up a pivotal tiebreak. After each traded mini-breaks of serve, it was Kvitova with impressive defense to keep herself in a long rally who edged ahead 3-2.
Though Sharapova would level at 3-all, critical errors from the Russian would soon cause her downfall. Sharapova netted one shot and, then again unable to handle Kvitova's power, would send another shot wide. That gave Kvitova a 5-3 advantage.
From there, Kvitova would have the last answer as she thundered in a huge serve down the tee to create her first match point. More powerful hitting from the Czech proved too much for Sharapova. The Russian sent a final shot well long thus giving Kvitova the hard-fought 6-3 7-6(3) victory.
"I was trying to continue with the plan and be aggressive," Kvitova said about her comeback in the second set despite falling behind early to Sharapova.
Now the 2011 event champion finds herself in the final against another player who few expected to be there.
Earlier, Agnieszka Radwanska upset Garbine Murgurza 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5. Both Kvitova and Radwanska entered the semifinals with 1-2 round robin records.
On facing Radwanska in the final, Kvitova added, "She is really on fire. It's going to be interesting."