Petra Kvitova meets Angelique Kerber for the title match – Western & Southern Open 2012
Last year’s Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic, has finally got into her true form and has cruised to the semi-final round of the Western & Southern Open. The reigning world number five registered a thumping straight
sets victory over the young Russian contender, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3, 7-6(4), in the quarter-final brawl of the tournament on Friday afternoon.
Battling extremely hard with her slump of form, Kvitova came to Cincinnati straight after winning her maiden WTA title of the running season from Montreal, Canada. Her run so far has been very convincing and she is still eyeing
to get her hands on her successive trophy. She will have to take on the German number one, Angelique Kerber, in the semi-final round on Saturday afternoon to earn a title shot at the coveted event.
Kerber registered the biggest upset of the tournament by dumping the in-form American powerhouse, Serena Williams, in the quarter-final round. The world number seven stunned the Olympic gold medallist in twin sets, 6-4, 6-4, to
break her 19-match winning streak in the most assertive manner. Williams’ dominant run was deemed to be invincible and she was among the hot favourites for lifting the Cincinnati title. However, Kerber’s victory over the American number one has brought her
to the top of the hot favourites for winning the Western & Southern Open.
"Today was one of the biggest wins of my career, and it's also amazing to be in the semis here," Kerber said. "I wasn't thinking about my opponent on the other side. My goal was just to give my best and hit the ball, move very
well and get the balls back from her because they are so fast. I really had nothing to lose. I just tried to do my game plan and it worked. Because Serena won Wimbledon, she won the Olympics, I mean, she won everything. She was the favourite, not me. It also
feels better to tell yourself you have nothing to lose than you need to win. So I like it better."
Kvitova will take on Kerber for the third time in the running year. These two top-class contenders first met at Stuttgart and the Czech number one got the better of Kerber in straight sets. Their most recent encounter took place
in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters and the German stood tall after three gruelling sets to level the head-to-head series at 1-1.
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