TENNIS WTA WUHAN – Petra Kvitova beat Eugenie Bouchard 6-3 6-4 in the final of the WTA Premier 5 Tournament in Wuhan to become the fourth player to book the ticket for the WTA Finals in Singapore. Diego Sampaolo
The first edition of the edition of the WTA Premier 5 Tournament in Wuhan, the home city of retired Chinese star Li Na featured a re-match between this year’s Wimbledon finalists Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard.
Last July Kvitova lifted her second Wimbledon title by defeating the Canadian rising star 6-3 6-0 in just 55 minutes. This time the Czech player won again in straight sets with 6-3 6-4 clinching her third title after Wimbledon and New Haven.
Kvitova won her third head-to-head match against Bouchard playing a perfect match on serve.
Kvitova got the decisive in the second game of the first set as Bouchard committed two unforced errors followed by a double fault and clinched the first set with 6-3. In the first set Kvitova hit 12 winners to 7 unforced errors in the opening set. Bouchard produced six winners to 8 unforced errors
Kvitova got a early break in the second set. At 3-2 Kvitova Bouchard earned two break point chances for 15-40 following a double fault by Kvitova. The Czech player saved the first break point chance when sent a backhand return into the net and the second with a forehand winner.
In the seventh game Kvitova got a double break for 5-2 and served for the match. She faced some stiff opposition in the next game of the second set when she got a match point but missed a backhand into the net.
Bouchard earned six break points before saving a match point and getting a break to force the match to the tenth game. At 5-4 Kvitova served for the match to wrap it up in 1 hour and 20 minutes
Kvitova hit 30 winners to 18 unforced errors and converted three of her five break point chances, while Bouchard produced 12 winners to 16 unforced errors and converted only one of her eight break points.
Kvitova has reached the WTA Finals for the fourth time in a row becoming the fourth player to book a berth for the end-of-season tournament after Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep. After winning the end-of-season title in her magic 2011 season, she failed to get through the round robin and reached the semifinal last year in the three editions which were held in Istanbul.
“I had a great week in Wuhan. From the beginning my season was very tough. If somebody had told me that I would win Wimbledon and still be fighting for Singapore, I am not sure I would have believed them. But I have had a great second part of the season. It all started a little bit at the French Open and from then on I just kept on improving. It was really difficult to take the loss in the first round at the Australian Open but I kept working hard.”
Kvitova played a great tournament in which she swept aside Caroline Garcia (the revelation of the week) with 6-3 6-4 in the quarter final before beating Ukrainian unseeded player Elina Svitolina with 6-3 7-5 in the semifinal.
Svitolina produced a major upset in the quarter final when sh knocked out Angelique Kerber with a 6-4 7-6 win in the quarter final
Bouchard, who reached the semifinal at the Australian Open and at the Roland Garros and the final at Wimbledon, will move up to Number 8 in the WTA Ranking.
In Wuhan Bouchard confirmed her status as one of the biggest revelations of this year with two outstanding wins over Alizé Cornet with 6-3 7-5 in the quarter final and this year’s US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki with 6-2 6-3 in the semifinal. Earlier this week Wozniacki fought back from a set down to overcome Swiss surprise Timea Bacsinszky in three sets with 4-6 6-2 6-3 in the quarter final. Bacsinkiy scored the biggest of her career when she upset Maria Sharapova on Wednesday.
The Swiss player was the major surprise of the week together with French players Alizé Cornet and Caroline Garcia.
Cornet overcame Serena Williams when the US star had to withdraw late in the first set because of a viral illness. Garcia scored two back-to-back wins over Venus Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska.
Pennetta and Hingis win the doubles final
Flavia Pennetta and Martina Hingis won their first WTA doubles title as a team with a 6-4 5-7 12-10 win over Caroline Garcia and Cara Black.
Pennetta and Hingis, who finished runner-up in Eastbourne and at the US Open doubles final earlier this month, cruised to a 6-4 5-3 lead in the second set but Black and Garcia saved four match points en route to winning the second set with 7-5.
In the third set Garcia and Black earned two match points at 9-8 and 10-9 in the second set but Pennetta and Hingis saved them. Pennetta hit a backhand volley into the corner to save the second match point. The Italian-Swiss team sealed the win with 12—10 with a big serve.
Pennetta and Hingis, who are currently ranked 12th in the Road to Singapore Ranking, will move up just outside the top-eight next week and could have a good chance to qualify for the WTA Finals in the doubles in Singapore.
