Day 5 WTA Championship Semifinals

Written by: Staff on 29th October 2011

Day 5 WTA Championship Semifinals

Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic returns the ball to Samantha Stosur of Australia during their semi final match at the WTA Championships tennis tournament in Istanbul, Turkey on 29 October 2011. EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU |

The unbeaten streak continued for the Czech Republic’s newest tennis star Petra Kvitova, who was the only player of the elite eight to go through round-robin play undefeated and who had to come back to hold off Sam Stosur in the semifinals of the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, on Saturday.

It’s been seven years since a player has made the finals at the year-end event in her debut, and it is the culmination of an incredible year that saw Kvitova start outside the top 30, victorious at Wimbledon and now No. 3 in the world.

But there is still one more match to play for the 21-year-old lefthander if she is to raise the winning trophy at the prestigious $4.9-million event.

In the final, Kvitova draws No. 4-ranked Victoria Azarenka, who breezed through her first two rounds here but had a hiccup yesterday against Marion Bartoli losing in three sets. But Azarenka rebounded strongly overcoming one of her most difficult opponents Vera Zvonareva to win comfortably in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

Now Azarenka is one win away from arguably her biggest career title, her biggest triumphs to date coming at the Premier-level Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she has twice lifted the trophy (2009 and earlier this year).

What else is at stake on Sunday? The winner of the final will move to second in the rankings, behind No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.

Kvitova took early leads in the second and third sets with a power game that has propelled her from outside the top 30 at the start of the year to No. 3. Leading 5-0 in the third, the Czech withstood a three-game run by Stosur to serve out the match.

Stosur said the momentum shifted during the match, and she was just “trying to hang in there” during the first three or four games when Kvitova was at her best. She said playing the left-handed Kvitova is difficult.

“She’d be hard anyway, regardless of whether she’s lefty or right-handed,” said Stosur, who praised the Czech for her achievements this year. “She’s got the game where you will see a flurry of errors, but she’ll flip it over and you’ll see that streak of winners.”

Kvitova beat Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon final. She has won four other titles this year, including Brisbane, Paris indoors, Madrid and Linz.

Stosur, who defeated Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final, was playing in the semifinals of the championships for the second straight year.

Topics: Kvitova, Semifinals, Wta, WTA Championship