Petra Kvitova beats Jelena Jankovic to move into title match - Generali Ladies Open 2011
Czech International, Petra Kvitova squared-off against the Serbian International and former world number 1, Jelena Jankovic, in the semi-final of Generali Ladies Open – Linz Event, hosted in Austria, on Saturday, October 15th.
The first meeting between the two contestants ended up with a victory for the top seed tournament favourite Kvitova. An epic battle to place the berth in the final of the tournament lasted for two hours and twenty-four minutes. World No.4 won the game with
a cumulative score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Both players were in terrific form having won six of their last nine encounters. So, it was obvious that this match was not going to be decided in straight sets. Crowd gathered up in numbers to experience an exciting semi-final
battle and they were not disappointed at all.
Contestants were all fired up to proceed to the grand finale of the tournament and inch one step closer to another title of their career. Third seed Jankovic has won 12 titles to date compared to just 5 of her counterpart but Kvitova
won four of her five titles this year whilst her opponent hasn’t clinched any title win this year.
Serbian started the first set in dashing fashion and won the first two games of the set. First break from top seed came in the third game and then she capitalized on that in the next game to make it 2-2. The popular highlights
from the set were the three aces from the top seed that rocked the crowd but it didn’t shake the confidence of the third seed and she went on to register a 6-4 victory in the first set. She saved three break points and won a total of 37 points and prompted
an upset.
Second set was the carbon copy of the first except the scores changed hands. This time around, the top seed clinched the set 6-4, pushing the match to the third set. She won 37 points and broke her opponents serve thrice. Jankovic
did tried to hold on and capitalize on that first set triumph but unforced errors and some scintillating display of all round performance from her counterpart restricted her from doing so. The stage was set for a world class final set and no one in the crowd
moved a centimetre during the break so that they don’t miss any action.
Third set was a bit of a disappointment for the crowd as the third seed looked a bit tired and couldn’t perform to her level best. She did strike two marvellous aces and did hang on in the initial stages of the set to keep it tight
but her resistance was short-lived. Czech International broke the serve at the crucial stage of the match and extended to score to 5-3 and then capitalized on this to clinch the set and confirm her place into the finals.
The top seed will now face the seventh seed Slovakian International, Dominika Cibulkova in the title match of the event. Everyone is expecting a close battle even though Kvitova still remains the tournament favourite.
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