Petra Kvitova Moves Within Two Wins of Birmingham Title Defence

Twelve months ago there was some concern about Petra Kvitova as she took to the court for just the second time in the 2017 season as she made her comeback to the tour. Fast-forward a year and the Czech is playing some of the best tennis of her career. Not only is she sustaining a high level on the grass courts, but she’s now bringing more consistent tennis to the other surfaces, most notably the way she mastered the clay en route to her Prague and Madrid titles.

Her 2018 form has seen her rise to World No. 8 in the rankings. and if she manages to defend her title in Birmingham and make a big run at Wimbledon, we would be seeing the Czech return to the Top 5 for the first time since the WTA finals in 2015. Last year, Kvitova lost in the second round to America’s Madison Brengle at Wimbledon, so she has plenty of points to gain at that event and with her track record at the Major suggests she is one of the contenders to lift the title for a 3rd time.

The two-time Grand Slam winner made a thunderous start to her quarterfinal match against the German No. 2 Julia Goerges as she raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening set, but Goerges did have plenty of opportunities, holding game point in four of the seven games in the first set–but she got punished for not bringing her best level for the big points of the set. Tennis is mostly about putting a premium on those big points and raising your game to the break points, set points and game points and Goerges struggled to do that.

Like all top players do, Kvitova found a way to stay on top in the difficult break point chances she had to face in the first set and then returned to top serving form, not facing a single break point in the 2nd set and she lost just the two points on serve. Goerges had the firepower to really try and match the Czech from the back of the court and the German has gained so much belief on this surface after making the Mallorca final last year, but Kvitova’s standards on this surface are that much greater and it showed in this straight sets win today.

“Yeah, I think the score looks a little bit different compared to game. I think I find kind of my game after the second half of the first set actually. I think in the beginning of the match, we were both, like, kind of finding the rhythm and finding the serve and finding the shots as well, especially on my serve. I mean, I think sometimes I’ve been pretty lucky that she missed the return. I didn’t put the first serve in which was kind of tough to play then. I felt like Julia had kind of troubles with the second serve as well in the beginning of the match. When I broke her serve, it was a little bit kind of better for me.”

“That’s true, especially in the first round. Not an easy draw. Sometimes it’s kind of good to have those tougher opponents from the first round. But I can’t see any easy first rounds here.”

Kvitova faces Mihaela Buzarnescu in a shootout for a final place at the Nature Valley Classic. The two playerS met in the Prague final during the clay-court season in which Kvitova managed to grab the win, but this will be their first encounter on the grasS, which heavily favours the Czech. Kvitova looked towards that big semifinal and the advantages that Buzarnescu can have on a grass court herself.

“Yeah, I think she’s pretty confident right now. She’s in good form as we see. Until I met her in Prague final, I didn’t really know much about her. Obviously I heard the name, saw the name doing well in the draw, but I never really pay attention until that time when we play three-setter. It was a really big fight. She’s a lefty. Probably she like the grass as well using a lefty serve. I mean, she’s playing with the confidence with nothing to lose. Like for me she seems to be really relaxed every time she’s on the court, off the court. That’s probably her biggest weapon now.”

Buzarnescu’s flat groundstrokes and brave tennis is something that can translate well on a grass court. She has not had a great deal of success on the grass, but her brand of tennis is something that has translated substantially on all surfaces and it is something that Kvitova will be wary on in the second face-off on Saturday’s semifinal day.

(Main Photo from Getty)