TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships 2011: Kvitova & Zvonareva – Part Two
Third seed Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic:
The high flying Czech made a massive start of the season after triumphing a title at Brisbane International event in January. Her blistering form led her to the last eight at Australian Open and another title at Paris WTA Premier event.
Kvitova’s awesome performance continued in the clay season and she triumph her third WTA Premier title at Madrid after triumphing over Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. The Czech carried her momentum in the following tournaments she entered and made title-round appearances at Prague ITF and a fourth round showing at French Open.
The unstoppable Czech kept hitting hard on the grass court season and made a final berth at Eastbourne. She then put a cherry on her career by winning her maiden Grand Slam event at Wimbledon, third of the four major tennis tournaments of the season.
Kvitova’s form dipped afterwards but she shined again in Linz WTA International event where she crushed seventh seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova with a breadstick to bag her fifth WTA title.
Kvitova entered confidently on her first time appearance at the WTA Championships. She declared before the start of the tournament, "It doesn't matter who's in the group. All eight players are very strong."
The blooming Czech cruised into the semis after triumphing over rest of the red group contestants in straight sets here at WTA Championships in Istanbul. She carried her momentum and overpowered the US Open titlist, Samantha Stosur of the White Group in brutal three sets to set-up a date with the fourth seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. Kvitova outclassed the Belarusian in a three set thriller to bag her sixth WTA year-to-date title.
"It was unbelievable tennis," Kvitova said in her on-court interview right after getting the limelight in the final. "We were both really fighting. Every game and every set was very close. Maybe I played better on the important points in the match. We both played some of our best here in Istanbul today - it was a final, so why not!"
Sixth seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva:
Ranked second at the start of the season, Zvonareva displayed her class at Australian Open where she breezed into the semi-finals before losing to the eventual champion Kim Clijsters. She maintained consistency in other tournaments she participated and triumphed her first year-to-date title at Doha WTA Premier event.
Later the Russian made last four appearances at Miami and Brussels before clinching her second title of the season at Baku. She continued her winning streak to nine matches before losing to Agnieszka Radwanska in the final round at Carlsbad WTA Premier. Her outstanding performance was seen in other tournaments as well as she made a final showing at Tokyo and made a last eight appearance at US Open before reaching Istanbul.
27-year-old Russian said before the tournament start, "All players who qualify for the Championships are the best players in the world”
Zvonareva lost to Pole Radwanska and Kvitova in the round Robin but tumbled over world number one Wozniacki to reach the semis. She continued her dismal performance and lost to Belarusian Azarenka in straight sets to fall to world number seven in the WTA rankings.
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