Czech Republic tennis star and currently the 2nd ranked female tennis player in the world, Petra Kvitova is likely to lose one position and drop down to number three in the world when the new set of rankings are announced by the Women’s Tennis Association or the WTA next week.
Maria Sharapova, the former world number one and winner of three Grand Slams, is likely to replace the Czech beauty who has withdrawn from the Open GDF Suez in Paris, France where she would have been the top seed had she played in the tournament.
However, with Kvitova out of the event and the next threat to the crown coming from world number seven, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, Sharapova is the hands down favorite to win the crown and climb up to number two in the world rankings next week. She has been having more or less a decent 2012, having already reached the final of the Australian Open where she lost to eventual world number one Victoria Azarenka, who, with 8585 points will still hold on to her top spot.
Petra Kvitova currently has 7680 points, being followed by Sharapova on 7560 points and a win in Paris on hard court, which is her favorite surface, could propel the 24 year old Russian to number two in the rankings with just 130 points separating the two.
Marion Bartoli, the world number seven could also do a lot of good to her rankings if she manages to win the title in Paris but most of the experts have considered it to be a foregone conclusion that Maria Sharapova will win the title and will overtake Petra Kvitova at second place in the rankings, leaving Azarenka in relative safety with her top spot in no doubt, at least for the next one month.
Petra Kvitova has made it through to the quarter finals of the Australian Open with a battling victory over Anna Ivanovic.
The number 2 seed took just under an hour and a half to win 6-2, 7-6 against the former world number 1. Kvitova came into the tournament with the Wimbledon crown already secured earlier in the year, and would love to take a second grand slam title, though there are many contenders capable of this feat in this year’s tournament.
Although the first set was won with relative ease, as Kvitova broke her opponent in the third and seventh games, the second set saw the game come alive, with Ivanovic showing that she is coming ever closer to regaining the form that gave her such success in the past.
It was the Czech player whose serve was first tested in the second set, and Ivanovic couldn’t take two break points in the second game. Instead, Petra held her serve and then edged ahead in the fifth game with another break of serve. However, the Serbian raised her game, and put the pressure right back on by breaking back in the tenth game when Kvitova just needed to win her serve for the match. The tie break saw the number 2 seed take control of the game again, and it finished 7-2 to give Kvitova her two-set victory and a place in the quarter finals.
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Current world no. 3, Petra Kvitova was looking to gain the top ranking in women’s tennis before the Australian Open begins later this month, but that wasn’t to be. Her efforts were cut short by the 29 year old Li Na from China.
The Czech international won the first round very comfortably, breaking the Asian’s serve twice. Li Na looked like she wasn’t in the best of form as she went down 1-6 in the first set. The second set started on a similar note as the first one, with the Czech looking very comfortable.
But Li got some on-court advice from her coach, who also happens to be her husband, which totally seemed to have transformed her. She rallied brilliantly over the next two sets to win the match from being a set down. Winning the quarterfinals in style with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 over Kvitova ensured that Li enter the semi-finals of the tournament where she would face Victoria Azarenka.
Petra Kvitova’s exit from the Sydney International might have been a blow to her hopes of becoming the world no. 1 before the Australian Open, but the tennis world believes that she has a fair chance of making it big in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
The women’s tournament this year is a nightmare for people who like to bet, as there is no sign of any clear forerunners. The two players who have won the maximum number of Grand Slams are both outside the top 10 rankings due to their poor showing in recent, smaller, tournaments.
The top three female players have won a total of just one Grand Slam among themselves whereas Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters have won 17. It now remains to be seen how the new breed of players like Kvitova do on the Grand Slam level, with the latest tennis betting online putting the veteran Williams sisters as favourites to win the big tournaments this year.
Reigning Wimbledon women’s tennis champion Petra Kvitova has been rewarded for her performances by being awarded the Czech Athlete of the Year Award, an award that is given out on the basis of popular votes from the country’s journalists employed in the sports field. Kvitova beat off competition from Jaroslav Kulhavy who won the cross country race in the Mountain Bike World Championship and the speed skating champion of the world Martina Sablikova, who finished second and third in the votes polled respectively.
The 21 year old Czech tennis beauty has been in marvelous form for the last couple of seasons, which culminated in her beating Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the final at Wimbledon to become the first left handed player since the legendary Martina Navratilova and also the first Czech player in 14 years to win a Grand Slam title. She also became the first tennis player from her country to win the WTA Championships and many people have already started rating the current world number 2 as a potential legend of the game.
The journalists voted for Petra Kvitova on the basis of these two wins as well as the part she played in the Fed Cup team for the Czech Republic leading to the country’s first triumph in the tournament. Kvitova has been in scintillating form, particularly in the 2011 calendar year that saw her winning 6 singles titles as well as the WTA Championships and she was by far the highest climber of the year when she jumped from number 34 in the world rankings to 2nd place.
Kvitova is currently being seen as the only credible contender to Caroline Wozniacki and her reign as the number one player in the world and with the season beginning down under in around two weeks’ time, there is every chance that she will take her crown from her.
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February 14, 2012 9:01 am | 
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