Petra Kvitova and her dream season 2011 – Part Two
Petra Kvitova kept momentum floating at Prague ITF event and blasted past every opponent in straight sets until she reached the final. Despite losing to fourth seed Magdalena Rybarikova in the finals, she not only reached to her
career high rank at number nine but also got geared up for the French Open.
21-year-old Czech continued out-bursting her extra ordinary skills at Roland Garros, second of the four Grand Slam event. She entered and cruised into the first four rounds, crushing Hungarian Greta Arn and Chinese Jie Zheng with
a breadstick in the first two rounds. Kvitova also eased past American Vania King in straight sets before losing to the eventual champion Li Na in the fourth round. However, she jumped one spot in the Sony Ericsson WTA rankings.
The short termed grass season started right after it and she let her spark lit in it. With a mouth opening performance at the Wimbledon warm up tournament at Eastbourne, Kvitova stayed on track to lift her fourth WTA title. She
overpowered some promising rivals like Hantuchova and Radwanska but was outmuscled by sixth seeded French Marion Bartoli in the title round.
The high spirited Czech confidently entered the Wimbledon Championships, third of the four Grand Slam event, and swirled her way into the quarter-finals without losing a set. She then rallied past thirty-second seeded Bulgarian
Tsvetana Pironkova and fourth seeded Azarenka to lock horns with a former world number one Maria Sharapova of Russia in the final. Kvitova completely outmuscled the Russian in straight sets and not only stole all the spot light but also grabbed her maiden
Grand Slam title.
"It's hard to find words," the blooming Czech cheered after clinching. "I still don't know how I feel. It's still an unbelievable feeling. Maybe I'll accept it after... I don't know... some days. I was so happy at the moment when
I won. It's strange."
After pocketing the title, she became the first Czech to win a Grand Slam since Jana Novotna in 1998 at SW – 19.
Despite all the glory and lime light, she carried on the tradition of WTA players dipping their form after bagging a Grand Slam title. Ranked 7th in the rankings, Kvitova was ousted by the German Andrea Petkovic from
the second round of the next two hard court tournaments she participated; Toronto WTA Premier and Cincinnati WTA Premier. Despite these performances, she managed to climb up a spot in the rankings.
Adding further to her misery, Kvitova exited from the opening round of the US Open, the final Grand Slam event of the season, by the hands of Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru.
The left handed Czech fought hard to find her rhythm and succeeded at Tokyo WTA Premier where she made a last four berth. Kvitova eased past Sharapova in the last eight through her tremendous abilities. However, she barely did
anything in the second set of the semi-final match against Zvonareva and eventually departed from the event after receiving a bagel.
Her impressive performance on these Japanese hard courts bumped her ranking and she made to the top five for the first time in her career.
Tags: