Petra Kvitova: Inching towards the top spot – Tennis Special
Top Czech Petra Kvitova is inching towards the top rank in the WTA Premier rankings after winning her fourth title of the year at Wimbledon. She displayed exceptional skills at not only on grass but throughout the season on every
surface to close in on the top spot.
Kvitova fulfilled her Grand Slam dreams by triumphing at Wimbledon, third of the four Grand Slam event held on grass courts in London, on its 125th anniversary to come one step closer to world number one rank in the
Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings.
The veteran Czech displayed her arsenal of skills and abilities at Wimbledon Championships and reeled off straight set victories in the first four rounds before pushing to troublesome three setter matches in the quarters and semis.
Kvitova, however, put a cherry on the cake by trashing former world number one, Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the final to lift the trophy. She also earned 2000 points in the WTA rankings which lifted her ranking from number eight to number seven.
"It's hard to find words standing here with the trophy and seeing all of the great players in the Royal Box," Kvitova told Sue Barker on court after winning the major. "I was nervous, because I thought I could win Wimbledon, but
I just focused on each point.”
21-year-old Czech is the youngest player to win a major event since a 20-year-old Serb Ana Ivanovic won the French Open three years back. She is also the first lefty to win a Grand Slam since Monica Seles won Australian Open in
1996 and she is the first left-hander to win Wimbledon since her countrywoman, Martina Navratilova in 1990.
This is not the end for the Czech as she is now aiming to dominate on hard courts and earn the glory at US Open.
At the start of the grass season this year, she made a final showing at Eastbourne before falling to sixth seeded French Marion Bartoli.
Coming towards her performance on clay, the Czech reached the fourth round at Roland Garros and triumphed at Madrid Masters event after defeating Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. She then reached final at Prague.
The blooming Czech showed her true colours in the beginning of the season as she won the title in the first event she participated in, the hard courts of Brisbane. She later dominated on the hard courts as she made a quarter-final
appearance at Australian Open and then went on to win the title at Paris.
The rising Czech showed her class after moving into top forty rankings in 2010 by making a semi-final berth at Wimbledon last year. She came into lime light of becoming the next Grand Slam winner, which she duly accomplished this
time around. However, she had fallen to a six match losing streak after her loss to Serena Williams in the semis last year which made critics believe it was a fluke that she had reached this far.
Kvitova made her top 100 debut in 2008 after making last eight berths at Zurich and Budapest and reached fourth round at Roland Garros.
She started her career in 2006 when she won two singles titles at ITF and carried her winning ways in the following year when she won four singles title on ITF circuits.
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