Petra Kvitova cruises to the semis; Daniela Hantuchova departs – Apia International Sydney 2012
World number two, Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic, continues her purple patch in the new WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season, disposing off the former world number five, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, in the quarter-final
brawl of the Apia International Sydney on Wednesday. The second seed Czech rocketed away to victory in just 63 minutes of play, settling the final scores at 6-0, 6-4, to earn a berth in the semi-finals of the $637,000 WTA tournament.
The crowd at the NSW Tennis Centre in Sydney, Australia, witnessed yet another exhibition of sheer dominance and power-hitting from the 21-year old Kvitova. She blasted her way through the opening set, winning all the six games
in a row to get one up early and then carried on with his impetus in the next set to conclude her second victory of the year in an authoritative fashion.
It was Kvitova’s fourth straight victory over Hantuchova in singles contests and she now leads 4-0 in the all-time head-to-head series against the Slovak opponent. Current world number 21, Hantuchova, utterly failed to pose any
serious resistance to the fury of the belligerent second seed and had no option but to submit in straight sets. She registered merely one break point in the entire matchup, while suffering five out of eight from the world number two to finish on the losing
side in the end.
"I was surprised I played that well. I'm really happy with the first set," Kvitova said. "I played well in the second set also but it was closer because Daniela was playing much better. Fortunately I made it through the second
set."
Kvitova delivered just 62 percent of her first serve on target but dropped merely four points on it, clinching 22 out of 26 en route to victory. She was absolutely unplayable in the opening set and her mighty left-handed forehand
worked perfectly for her, thumping a number of assertive winners down the line. She gave limited opportunities to her opponent, who failed to cash them in-time and kept crumbling under the pressure of defeat.
With the world number one, Caroline Wozniacki losing to Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarter-finals, Kvitova has earned an opportunity of her life to claim the top spot in the WTA rankings. A championship victory at the Apia International
Sydney will propel her to the world number one spot.
"It's still two matches away, and the next one will be really tough, so we'll see what happens. I'm still not really thinking about it," Kvitova declared.
The Czech will play her semi-final clash against the last year’s French Open champion, Li Na of China.
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