TENNIS WTA BEIJING – Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova will face in the final of the WTA Premier Mandatory of Beijing, after defeating Sam Stosur and Ana Ivanovic respectively.
Petra Kvitova conquered the fourth final of her 2014 after defeating in a tough battle Sam Stosur 6-3 5-7 6-2 in the semifinal of the premier mandatory of Beijing.
The Wimbledon champion, who is yet to lose in a final after the successes of Wimbledon, New Haven and Wuhan, will face Maria Sharapova, who came through the second semifinal of the day against Ana Ivanovic 6-0 6-4.
Kvitova needed two hours and 20 minutes to overcome her Australian opponent, who played some of her best tennis of the season before suffering a big loss of energy and focus during the third set, which eventually cost her the match.
The Czech number one looked tired after the successful run in Wuhan last week and she struggled to keep the number of errors low, but especially thanks to a good tactic, she exposed Stosur’s backhand, particularly on the return of serve, to take many crucial points throughout the match.
Stosur managed a great change in her consistency after the rain break forced the organizers to close the roof at the end of the first set, but the Australian paid the toll in the third set and this gave Kvitova the chance to take control of the rallies right from the return.
For the Czech, this win meant a great step in the rankings as she overcame Simona Halep in the race, moving up to number three.
In the final, Kvitova will try to reverse a trend of four consecutive losses to her Russian opponent, who, on the other end, will look for her first title of the year on hard courts in her first final on the surface.
Sharapova needed a much faster match to beat Ana Ivanovic, who was completely annihilated in the first set by the consistent firepower of the Siberian.
In the second set, the rivalry between the two made the level of the match rise and tension and drama were the protagonists. Both players challenged many calls and had to argue with Kader Nouni on the chair several times.
The equilibrium lasted until 4-4, when the Serb’s serve let her down, giving Sharapova the chance to take control of the rallies from the return and easily break to go serving for the match.
Tension, however, built up on the shoulders of the third seed, who served four double faults in the game, but Ivanovic was not able to capitalize.
The Russian was as close a couple of millimetres to hand the break back, but the hawk-eye called her cross-court backhand good on one of the break points and this gave her the courage to finally serve it out.
The final of tomorrow will be a preview of what could be one of the interesting match ups of the upcoming finals in Singapore.
