Petra Kvitova Seals Top 10 Return After Winning Biggest Title In Five Years At Miami Open - UBITENNIS
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Petra Kvitova Seals Top 10 Return After Winning Biggest Title In Five Years At Miami Open

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Petra Kvitova says she has proven that she can still compete with the best players in the world after winning her biggest title since 2018 at the Miami Open. 

 

The 33-year-old Czech defeated Elena Rybakina 7-6(14), 6-2, to win her 30th WTA title and first-ever in Miami. Kvitova’s triumph has brought Rybakina’s career-best 13-match winning streak to an end and has secured her re-entry into the world’s top 10 for the first time since September 2021. She has also joined Serena Williams as the only female players to have won Miami after turning 33. 

During her latest match, the two-time Wimbledon champion played what she described as the longest tiebreak of her entire career. During the business end of the first set, Kvitova survived a gut-busting 30-point tiebreaker which saw her fail to convert four set points before prevailing. 

“Before our final, I read that Elena didn’t lose a tie-break yet this season,” Kvitova said. “So, you know, I had a break up—I was like, ‘Okay, good, I’m going to serve it out.’ And boom, it was a tie-break. I was like, ‘Oh, very nice. What are you going to do now?’
“But I was telling myself that she has to lose at some point one tie-break this season. So I was going to try.”
“It was like one mini-break and then other one and we just kept going on the serves—I mean, I totally lost the control of who is serving, who is not, when we are changing the sides and so on.’
“I was a little bit passive in the tie-break in the end, I think, and that’s why I had to tell myself to go a little bit forward for it to take it—as me, as Petra—playing aggresive to take it and not to wait for the missing, which she didn’t miss.
“It was really the hardest tie-break I’ve played, probably.”

Before Miami, Kvitova’s 2023 season was yet to take off. In her first five tournaments played this year, she won nine out of 14 matches played with her best performance being a run to the quarter-finals in Indian Wells last month. She also reached the quarter-finals of the Adelaide International.

As to the impact of what her latest triumph could have on her season, the former world No.2 has played down its significance heading into the clay swing of the Tour. Kvitova has a golden opportunity of claiming plenty of points over the coming weeks after winning just one Tour match on the clay last year between April and May. 

“I have no idea what this (win) will do on my the season. I’m just happy that I won it from nothing,” she said. “I think I’m playing pretty good tennis starting the year but I didn’t go really deep in a tournament. Finally, I have.’
“I think I just take it very positive that I can still compete with the best. The clay is waiting and then it’s grass. The tennis world is very fast and I can’t really stand there and be watching this trophy all the time. I have to move forward, of course, as everybody would. It means a lot to me that even at my age I can still win a big tournament. That’s the biggest thing.”

Kvitova has now contested at least one WTA final every year since 2011. Out of active players on the WTA Tour, only Venus Williams has won more singles trophies than her. 

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Asian Games Champion Qinwen Zheng Reveals Shock Departure Of Coach Fissette

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China’s Qinwen Zheng says she feels ‘hurt’ by the decision of her former coach to end their collaboration in order to work with another player. 

 

The US Open quarter-finalist had been working with Belgium’s Wim Fissette in recent weeks following the departure of Pere Riba who is now the coach of Coco Gauff. Fissette has a wealth of experience in women’s tennis after working with the likes of Kim Clijsters and Naomi Osaka. However, Zheng says she is now looking for a new mentor.

“I understand his decision, but my family and I feel hurt. Right now I don’t want to talk about this person (Fissette),’ journalist Bendou Zhang quoted her as saying. 

Fissette is yet to comment on his departure. He had previously coached former world No.1 Osaka between 2019-2022 and during this period she won two of her four Grand Slam titles. The American-based Japanese player is on maternity leave from the sport and gave birth to her first child in July.

20-year-old Zheng is currently ranked 23rd in the world and won her maiden WTA title in Palermo earlier this year. She is the youngest player from her country to have reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in the Open Era following her run at Flushing Medows. This year she has beaten top 10 players Ons Jabeur and Daria Kasatkina. 

Zheng’s latest career milestone is winning gold at the Asian Games on Friday. in the final, she defeated Zhu Lin 6-2, 6-4, in the blistering Hangzhou heat.

“The feeling was incredible,” Zheng said. “I’m really happy about that. That was not an easy match today and also yesterday (in semifinal against Alex Eala). All of them are good fighters.”

It is not clear who Zheng will be working with during the Asian swing. 

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Daria Kasatkina Criticises Decision To Not Use Roof At Sweltering Pan Pacific Open

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Daria Kasatkina has taken a swipe at organizers at the Toray Pan Pacific Open for not using the roof to cover their premier court on Thursday due to the heat. 

 

The Russian played her second round match against Despina Papamichail in temperatures around 30 degrees with the humidity making it feel even warmer. Kasatkina battled to a 6-4, 6-4, win after spending more than two hours on the court. She dropped serve four times in the match but managed to break Papamichail seven times en route to victory. 

Speaking on the court following his latest tour win, the world No.13 admitted that she struggled in the conditions and implied that she believed the roof should have been closed to shield the players from the sun. Tokyo, which is where the tournament is staged, has experienced a record-breaking number of ‘extremely hot’ days this year with their autumn season being warmer than usual. Something that some warn could be a more regular occurrence due to climate change.

“We cannot do much about it. We are using the ice towels and some supplements to keep you hydrated. By at the end, you cannot fight with something you cannot control,” Kasatkina commented on the conditions during her on-court interview.
“I think in these kinds of conditions, if you have a roof, better maybe to close it. If you have these opportunities, better to use it than to make players almost die on the field.” She added. 

Kasatkina is through to her seventh Tour quarter-final of the season. Awaiting her in the next round will be second seed Jessica Pegula who beat Spain’s Cristina Bucșa 6-1, 6-2, in her second round match on Wednesday. It will be only the second Tour meeting between the two players and their first on a hard court. 

Elsewhere in Tokyo, another player to reach the last eight in France’s Caroline Garcia who beat Anhelina Kahlinina 6-4, 6-3. Meanwhile, Anastasia Pavlychenkova defeated Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. 

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Barbora Krejcikova Does The Double In San Jose

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After what has been a challenging past few weeks on the Tour, Barbora Krejcikova has returned to the winner’s circle by claiming both the singles and doubles titles at the San Diego Open. 

 

The world No.13 battled to a marathon 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, win over Sofia Kenin in what was a clash of the former Grand Slam champions. Krejcikova was pushed to her limits throughout the two-and-a-half-hour clash with there being no break in the decider until the final game. It is the second singles title the Czech has won on the WTA Tour this season after Dubai and her seventh overall. 

“Normally I wouldn’t be here,” said Krejcikova, who received a wild card to play in the tournament “I really want to thank them (the tournament organisers). It was very special. I really enjoyed my stay here.”

Krejcikova’s run to the trophy has also seen her score wins over Beatriz Haddad Maia and Danielle Collins earlier in the week. She is the first player from her country to win the tournament. 

Following on from that triumph, the 27-year-old then clinched the doubles title alongside compatriot Katerina Siniakova. The duo beat Collins and Coco Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-4.

Krejcikova came into San Jose on a four-match losing streak which started at Wimbledon where she was forced to withdraw from her secound round clash due to a left leg injury. 

“I came here with not really good statistics after my injury, I didn’t actually win any matches,” she said. “So I just came here and I pretty much was hoping and believing that I could get the first win and go from there. It’s pretty special to be sitting here having won [the title].”

It is only the second time in Krejcikova’s career that she has won both the singles and doubles titles at the same event. The first time she did so was at the 2021 French Open where her partner in the doubles was also Siniakova.

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