The final in Cincinnati marked Kvitova’s 30th title on the WTA circuit. How did the battle turn out?

Petra Kvitova challenged Caroline Garcia in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. Before this final, the mutual balance was 5:3 in Petra’s favour, but it was here in Cincinnati that the Frenchwoman won in 2015.

Caroline Garcia is currently 35th in the world rankings. She’s having one of the best seasons of her career so far. She has already broken her personal record for most titles won in a single season. This one from Cincinnati marks his third this year.

She certainly didn’t have an easy road to the finals. She had to start with qualification, where she first beat her compatriot Parry and then Germany’s Petkovic. In the opening round, the Frenchwoman beat Martic of Croatia twice 6:3. The second round brought a much more even battle. After 7::6 6::7 and 6::1 sets, the number four seed Maria Sakkari finished the tournament.

The eighth and quarterfinals followed with clearer matches, both 2: 0. First advancing past Mertens, and then came a win against Pegula of the USA as well. Again, Garcia had a three-set match in the semi-finals, against Sabalenka. The sixth seed said goodbye to the gates of the final after 6::2 4::6 and 6::1.

Petra Kvitova entered the tournament with a long and long battle. The match that lasted 2 hours and 50 minutes had a happy ending for the Czech. After sets 7::6 6::7 and 3::6 Petra defeated Jil Teichmann. In the second round she took on the Romanian Cirstea.

In the eighth round, a tough obstacle awaited Ons Jabeur. The match was like a seesaw and Kvitova celebrated her progress. Kvitova took the first and third sets 6:1 and 6:0. The Tunisian took the middle game 4: 6.

The quarter-final was considerably quieter. Petra took the Australian Tomljanovic twice 6::3. The semifinal was again a great battle, against the home team’s Madison Keys. Kvitova had to turn things around when she lost the first set in a shortened game. She had already dominated the next two sets 4: 6 and 3: 6 and won her ticket to the match for her 30th WTA title.

The course of the match

The opening game, served by the left-handed Czech, brought an immediate break. Petra didn’t hit her 1st serve as she would have liked and her opponent took the lead in the match via a rally. The second game had a similar story, but with a different ending. Garcia turned away both break points available to Kvitova and held her serve in the end. Kvitova missed the start of the match.

After balanced exchanges and interesting games, the score was suddenly 0:3 for the Czech and the Frenchwoman went back on serve. She confirmed her current coolness and dominance on serve with a clean game and the score was 0::4. She returned the same coin to her opponent in the 5th game. Petra served excellently and corrected the score of the match. In the sixth game, Garcia offered her opponent two more break points, but it was just a bid.

Kvitova went on to serve out the opening set at 1:5. And she did. Just like the Czech’s previous service game, it was a cleanly won game. It was the Frenchwoman’s turn to close the set. And so she did.

Caroline Garcia won the first set 6:2. The deciding factor was the serve. The Frenchwoman recorded one less double fault and four more aces. She was also better at winning balls after the first serve. Unfortunately, the second set started in exactly the same way as the first, with Kvitova losing her serve.

The break was confirmed despite a rally, the Czech then called a medical timeout and disappeared into the bowels of the stadium. Upon her return, she held her own serve to 15. It was a big tug-of-war after that, but the players held their serves. The match went to 2::6 and 4::5. Garcia went on to serve for the match win. And she handled this difficult task very well. She won her third title of the year against the Czech lioness with 6::2 and 6::4.

Caroline Garcia really served better and it must be admitted that the victory of the Frenchwoman is well deserved. She is moreover special because with this feat she became the first player who managed to dominate a WTA 1000 category tournament from the qualification.

Source. Twitter