Kvitova dominated the final in Miami and has her 30th title! Rybakina fails to reach Sunshine Double

Petra Kvitová fought for her 30th WTA title on Saturday in Miami. For the valuable trophy she competed with Jelena Rybakina, who after the triumph in Indian Wells was seeking the so-called Sunshine Double. The thirty-three year old Czech was the lucky one to leave the court, after a dramatic battle in the first set she confirmed her victory by clearly dominating the second.

At the Miami Open 2023, Kvitova defeated her compatriot Linda Noskova, Donna Vekic of Croatia, Varvara Gracova, Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia and Sorana Cîrstea of Romania in the semi-finals.

The world number seven from Kazakhstan also had a free draw in the opening round and so she also played five matches in the previous round of this year’s prestigious event. Specifically, she defeated Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, Spain’s Paula Badosa, Belgium’s Elise Mertens, Italy’s Martina Trevisan and American Jessica Pegula.

So far, one of the best domestic players in history had an even record with Rybakina. Last year in Ostrava her rival won, in January in Adelaide the Czech lioness won.

The first converted break point of the final match of the Florida tournament came at 4:4. Kvitova broke her opponent’s serve in this case. However, Rybakinova took her serve back.

The tiebreak finally decided the outcome of the set. And it was a very dramatic ending, which is rarely seen. The Kazakh missed five set points, the Czech missed her fifth. Coach Jiri Vanek’s team dominated the shortened game 16:14.

It is possible that this long, mentally demanding and ultimately losing battle partly affected Rybakina’s subsequent performance. The two-time Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic soon led 3:0 in the second act and did not allow the score to change. Noapak added one more break at the very end.

Petra Kvitova can celebrate her first triumph at a WTA 1000 tournament since Madrid 2018 after a 7: 6 and 6: 2 overall score. She now has thirty singles titles on the most prestigious circuit.

Yelena Rybakina failed to reach the Sunshine Double as the fifth ranked tennis player. Steffi Graf, even twice, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Świąteková have all successfully completed the challenging double in the past.

A significant win on Monday will propel Kvitova back into the elite 10 of the world rankings. She will jump from 12th to 10th.

Source:: WTA, live-tennis.eu