KVITOVA LOSES OUT

Petra Kvitova has been defeated by Li Na of China in the semi final round of the WTA Championships which is going on at Istanbul. Li won the match in the straight sets by 6-4, 6-2.

This was the 7^th match between these two players and Li defeated Kvitova for the 4^th time.

Now, in the final match, Li will take on the no. 1 player in the world Serena Williams who had to struggle a bit against her Serbian opponent Jelena Jankovic to make her way into the title round.

The last few seasons hadn’t gone that well for Li Na, but, in this particular season, she has been quite consistent.

When asked about the reason behind her consistency in the ongoing season, the Chinese superstar said, “I think I am more experienced now and in this season, I have felt more confident about my game. I know better now how to carry myself when I am playing and also when I am not playing.”

In the match against Kvitova, Li was off to a fine start. She managed to give her opponent the first blow in the very first game of the first set. With one more breakthrough in the 3^rd game, the Chinese player enhanced her lead to 3-0. But, she loosened her grip after that and got broken twice successively which equalized the scores at 4-4.

But, in the 9^th game, Li sneaked in another vital breakthrough and this time, she made sure that she didn’t lose the advantage. She held her serve in the 10^th game and wrapped up the set.

In the second set, both the players lost their serve once in the first 4 games and at the end of the 4^th game; the scorecard was showing 2-2. From there onwards, Li didn’t let Kvitova win a single game. She broke the serve of the Czech player twice (in the 5^th and in the 7^th game) and won the next 4 games successively to win the set and the contest as well.

KVITOVA LOSES

Petra Kvitova has been defeated by the local girl Alison Riske in the third round of the ongoing US Open. Riske won the match quite comfortably by 6-3, 6-0. It was a shocking result. Riske is ranked 81^st in the world and she was given a wild card entry in this tournament. She wasn’t expected to reach the 4^th round and that too by defeating an accomplished player like Kvitova. But, she has done that.

Kvitova was not 100% fit and that might have resulted in her being not at the top of her game. The Czech player had been suffering from fever since the last few days.

Riske is generally considered as a grass court specialist, but, yesterday, she looked comfortable on hard courts as well. She dominated the whole contest and got better of her opponent in some style.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, the 23 years old American said, “It’s never easy to compete against a quality player like Petra. I didn’t try to be flamboyant. I just played my natural game and got the desired outcome.”

On the other hand, Kvitova was gutted after her defeat. She said, “I had defeated her a few days ago, but, today, it was difficult for me to have long rallies. So, I wanted to be aggressive and hit a lot of winners, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t do that.”

“I was struggling with fever the whole day yesterday. So, I didn’t have enough practice coming into this match. I was not 100% today either. I tried to battle it out somehow, but, I didn’t succeed.”

“These things happen in life. I will have to move on. I will go for a blood test later today and hopefully, everything will be fine.”

KVITOA MISSES OUT

Petra Kvitova has been defeated by Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the quarter final of the Wimbledon Championships. Flipkens won the match by 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

It was a great effort by the 27 years old Belgian player. She wasn’t off to a good start and was down by one set. But, she didn’t panic at all. She gathered her focus back and played some quality tennis in the next two sets to pull off the win and make her way into the final 4.

This was the 4^th match between these two players and Flipkens defeated Kvitova for the 3^rd time.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Flipkens said, “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I can’t believe I am in the final 4 of a Grand Slam. It’s like a dream come true. I can’t express my feelings in words at the moment.”

In the first set, both the players held their serve in the first 4 games and the scores were levelled at 2-2 at the end of the 4^th game.

Kvitova gave Flipkens the first blow in the 5^th game, but, she couldn’t capitalize on that lead. She lost her advantage in the very next game and the scores got levelled again.

In the 7^th game, Kvitova got another breakthrough and this time, she managed to consolidate that with a serve hold to take a lead of 5-3.

The Czech player just needed to win her next service game and she did that with ease.

In the second set, the first 5 games went with the serve and at the end of the 5^th game; the score was 3-2 in the favour of Flipkens.

The Belgian player sneaked a breakthrough in the 6^th game and then, held her remaining serves to win the second set by 6-3.

In the decider, there were no breakthroughs in the first 8 games and the scores were equalized at 4-4 when the 8^th game finished.

In the 9^th game, Kvitova dropped her serve which gave Flipkens a lead of 5-4. The Belgian played served out the next game quite comfortably and wrapped up the proceedings.

In the semi final match, Flipkens will take on Marion Bartoli of France.

KVITOVA BEATS REZAI

Petra Kvitova has defeated Aravane Rezai of France in the first round of the French Open. Kvitova won the match in three sets by 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

This was Kvitova’s first win over Rezai in two matches. Before this, these two players had played against each other in Rogers Cup a few years back and in that match, Kvitova was defeated. So, she was looking to avenge that loss and she succeeded in that.

In the first set, the first couple of games went with the serve. After that, Kvitova broke her opponent’s serve 4 times in the next 7 games and sealed the opener by 6-3.

In the second set, Kvitova lost her concentration just a little bit. She dropped her serve in the 3^rd game to get trailed by 1-2. However, she broke back Rezai in the 6^th game to equalize the scores.

The next couple of games went with the serve and at the end of the 8^th game; the scorecard was showing 4-4. In the 9th game, Rezai broke Kvitova’s serve again and then, held her serve in the 10^th game to win the set by 6-4.

In the third and final set, Kvitova again had a poor start. Her serve was broken in the very first game and she got trailed by 0-1, but, she bounced back in style and with the help of two successive serve breaks, she won the next three games in a row to take a lead of 3-1.

Rezai managed to sneak a breakthrough in the 5^th game to decrease the lead to 3-2, but, after that, she was just overpowered by Kvitova. The Czech player got two more breakthroughs (in the 6^th and the 8^th game) and won the decider by 6-2 to move into the second round where she will face Peng Shuai of China.

GOERGES UP NEXT

Petra Kvitova will play against Julia Goerges of Germany in the second round of the ongoing Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2013. This match will be played on Thursday and the starting time is 12:30 GMT.

Kvitova made her way into the second round with a win over Annika Beck of Germany. She defeated Beck by 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in the first round. Although, Kvitova managed to come out victorious in that match but, she had to battle very hard.

On the other hand, Goerges didn’t have much difficulty in her first round match against Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium. She won the first set easily by 6-2 and she was leading in the second set as well when Flipkens decided to leave the match because of injury.

Kvitova and Goerges have so far played two matches against each other and both have won one each. The last time that these two players had faced each other was in a Fed Cup match and Kvitova had won that match by 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.

Kvitova hasn’t played outstanding tennis in this season. She hasn’t been in bad form, but, she hasn’t rocked either.

Kvitova has won a title in the form of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, but, in most of the tournaments, she has disappointed her fans including the Fed Cup clash against Italy in which she suffered a defeat against Roberta Vinci. However, she came back to defeat Sara Errani in the reverse singles, but, even after that win, the Czech team couldn’t get better of Italy.

Recently, Kvitova reached the finals of the Katowice Open where she got defeated by Roberta Vinci again. So, her form has been alright, but, she has not been at her best.

For Goerges also, this season has been disappointing. She had started the season well and was the runner up in the Heineken Open, but, she couldn’t maintain the form that she showed in that tournament.

However, Goerges had won the title here at Stuttgart a couple of years back in 2011; so, she would have good memories of this venue.

Considering the current form and experience, one can say that Petra Kvitova is the favourite to win this match.

KVITOVA THROUGH

Petra Kvitova has defeated Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open. Kvitova won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 7-6(5). With this win, Kvitova has cruised into final 16.

It took Kvitova one and half hours to win this match.

Kvitova’s recent form has been pretty good. She was the winner of the recently played Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and she is continuing her good form in this tournament as well. She has played some fantastic tennis so far in this competition.

After winning the match, Kvitova said, “The start was fantastic for me. I didn’t commit too many unforced errors and had no problem in winning the first set. But, in the second set, she changed her approach and started playing with a bit more aggression. She was creating a lot of problems for me, but, at that time, it was important not to get frustrated and just hang in there. That’s what I did.”

“The surface was very slow and this type of surface doesn’t suit to my game. However, I am working hard to improve my game on slower surfaces.”

In the opening set, Kvitova got a couple of early breakthroughs which gave her a lead of 5-1. The Ukrainian youngster didn’t manage to make up for this early damage done by Kvitova and eventually, lost the set by 2-6.

In the second set, both the players got two breakthroughs each in the first four games and the scorecard was showing 2-2 when the 4^th game finished.

The next 8 games went with the serve due to which the scores got tied at 6-6 and the set went into the tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, the score was 5-5 at one stage and the set could have gone either way. A mini break for Kvitova right at the end ensured that the match would not go into the third set.

In the next match, Kvitova will face her countrywoman Klara Zakopalova.