[15] P. Kvitova b. [10] E. Rybakina 7-6(14) 6-2
While some people consider “13” an unlucky number, for Petra Kvitova it was “13th time lucky” in Miami. On her 13th appearance at the Miami Open the 2-time Wimbledon champion clinched her first title in Southern Florida, as well as the first title between Miami and Indian Wells. She had never managed to go past the quarterfinals in any of the Sunshine Double tournaments, and this year she went all the way to the end to raise the crystal trophy in the middle of the Hard Rock Stadium.
Despite 12 aces and an impressive performance on serve during the first set, Indian Wells champion and Australian Open finalist Elena Rybakina could not keep her game together during the frantic first set tie-break, when she was the first to get a lead and could not manage to convert five set point, one of which on her serve.
THE MATCH – Rybakina started slow and had to face two break points in the opening game, but she came out of the situation brilliantly with two powerful serves. And the serve was the leitmotiv of the first set for Rybakina, who in the 66-minute set ended up with 10 aces and an 86% of points scored on her first serve. Kvitova insisted on her strategy to go for a full-swing shot on most of her returns, this way allowing many free points to Rybakina on her serve.
The strategy paid dividends at 4-4, when the Kazakh player was pushed to a double fault for 30-30 on her fifth service game and a subsequent backhand down the line from Kvitova set up the conditions for the first break of the match. But the former Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic was unable to convert the opportunity and conceded four unforced errors during the following game to allow her opponent to clinch the break back taking advantage of four unforced errors by Kvitova.
Two games at love introduced the first set to a tie-break that ended up lasting 16 minutes and saw five set points each. Rybakina was leading 4-2 but it was Kvitova to get to set point first at 6-5. Both had the opportunity to play one of the set points on their serve: Rybakina did not put in the first serve and missed a backhand, while Kvitova served better and forced her opponent to make a forehand error.
That first set opened up the match for the Czech veteran, who broke early in the second with three winning returns for 2-0. Rybakina’s effectiveness on serve waned as games progressed, dropping to a 62% conversion rate on first serves and a mere 36% on second serves. The Indian Wells champion managed to stave off a 0-4 opportunity for Kvitova as the match was running away from her, but Kvitova was too solid, too confident and too eager to win her seventh WTA 1000 title to be stopped.
Rybakina’s third double fault and two unforced errors in the eighth game sealed the destiny for this message and sent Petra Kvitova to celebrate in the arms of his coach-fiancé Jiri Vanek.
TOP 10 AGAIN – This win is Kvitova’s 30th professional tournament title and seals her return to the top 10 of the WTA ranking for the first time since October 2020, while Rybakina consolidates her ranking at n.7 after an impressive start of the year.
