Comebacks, one huge scalp, and a marathon tiebreak: How Kvitova reached her 30th title
Kvitova won her first-ever title in Miami and is now only missing trophies from Indian Wells, Rome, Cincinnati and Beijing at the Masters tournaments. She has appeared in the final at the latter two in the past.
Her triumph in Miami was partly helped by lady luck. Even though she was the 15th seed, she only once had to play against a higher-ranked tennis player. Despite that, she played the final against Elena Rybakina (23) quite brilliantly.
Other favourites in the form of Aryna Sabalenka (24) and Caroline Garcia (29) were put out of her way by Sorana Cirstea (32) of Romania. While Varvara Gracheva (22) defeated tournament number four Ons Jabeur (28).
Three key moments on the road to glory
Turn-around sets and an incredibly long tiebreak in the final were some of the most important moments for the Czech tennis player on her way to the title.
Test #1: Gracheva came out swinging in their matchup and gave Kvitova a lot of grief. The Czech successfully fended off five break points in the first set, but the second set tested her resilience.
She had to make up for the loss of three games, she was already down 2:5 and when the set reached the tiebreak, the Russian managed to level from 1:5 to 5:5. But the next two points belonged to Kvitova.
Test #2: Cirstea, boosted by her win over Sabalenka, started very well against Kvitova in the semi-final and owned the opening game. The Romanian led 5:2 and then had two set points at 5:4.
However, at the crucial moment, Kvitova won five of the six exchanges on her opponent's serve to level the score. Cirstea, playing under pressure, lost seven games in a row during this passage.
Test #3: The final against Wimbledon champion Rybakina was even until the first set tiebreak. And it was this aforementioned 'mini set' that launched Kvitova to the trophy.
It was a battle of nerves and focus, with five set points on offer to each player. The tiebreak finally ended after 22 minutes with a score of 16:14 in favour of the Czech.
Other important figures:
3
Petra Kvitova played three tiebreaks and won all of them. We have already talked about those in her duels with Gracheva (7:5) and Rybakina (16:14). The third one she won against Donna Vekic (26) (7:3).
10.5
That's how many hours the Czech had to spend on the court in Miami. The timekeeper measured exactly 10 hours and 30 minutes in her total of six matches.
The shortest match she played was in the first round when Linda Noskova (18) played with far too much respect and was done after 68 minutes. On the other hand, two matches stretched to more than two hours - namely against Gracheva and Ekaterina Alexandrova (28).
874
We could also say that her journey to the title was one of 874 points played. Kvitova won 473 points compared to 401 lost. In terms of games, she finished with a record of 80:54.
36
Petra Kvitova's serve held up throughout and she even helped herself to aces on 36 occasions. Twice her opponents were better in this respect - Rybakina outplayed Kvitova on aces 12:5 and Alexandrova 7:6. In contrast, she made 25 double faults in her tournament run.
19/40
Kvitova showed tremendous strength in key moments. When it came to her opponent's break point, Kvitova was able to capitalize on 19 out of 40 opportunities (47.5%). On the other hand, when she was serving, she made only seven such errors.
The triumph in Miami moved Kvitova back into the top 10 of the WTA rankings. The last time she was in it was on September 19, 2021. And the expectation that she will remain in elite company for weeks to come is very high. After all, she will be defending the minimum points at the following tournaments.
In addition to the six matches she won, Kvitova managed to send one more important message to the sports world. She announced that she does not agree with athletes from Russia and Belarus competing in the Olympics.
"Of course, my position is still clear, I am against the war and I care more about people and players from Ukraine," she commented on the recent stance of the International Olympic Committee.
Ironically, she played in Miami against three native Russian players. Gracheva announced during the US tour that she is seeking French citizenship, Alexandrova has lived in the Czech Republic for many years and Rybakina has been playing in the colours of Kazakhstan since 2018.
