Petra Kvitova turned back the clock to upset Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina 7-6(14), 6-2 on Saturday to win her first Miami Open crown and ninth WTA 1000 title. The veteran Czech player, seeded 15th, ended an epic, 22-minute first set tie-break by converting her fifth set point when 10th-seeded Rybakina’s forehand landed in the net.
The powerful left-hander then swung freely in the second, racing out to a 3-0 lead and breaking the hard-serving Rybakina for a third time on match point. The 33-year-old Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014 and who had recently contemplated retirement, put her hands on her head in astonishment when Rybakina’s forehand sailed long to seal the win.
She then went over to her box to embrace her fiance, former Czech player Jiri Vanek.
Kvitova, who fended off five set points in the see-saw tiebreak, said capturing it was the key to the match. “The tie-break, oh my God, it was probably the longest in my career and somehow I managed it,” she said.
“She had so many aces at the beginning of the tie-break that I couldn’t even play. So it was really difficult and amazing.” The loss ended Indian Wells champion Rybakina’s bid for the ‘Sunshine Double’ and snapped the reigning Wimbledon champion’s 13-match winning streak.
Rybakina’s 12 aces were offset by 24 unforced errors, and she won fewer than half of her second serve points.
By winning her 30th career title, the former world No.2 Kvitova will now re-enter the top 10 for the first time since September 2021. High-stakes matches tend to bring out her best and she improved to 30 wins and 11 losses in finals.
“I love trophies, so that’s probably why,” she said when asked how she raises her game in big matches. “I love playing finals, I love playing deeper in the tournament. That’s what I love the most about tennis. I love the fight. I love the mental side of it as well, when you really have to think.”
The victory is the latest accomplishment for the resilient Kvitova, who required surgery on a stab wound to her racket hand that she suffered during an attack by a knife-wielding home intruder in 2016
Petra Kvitova snubs young fan after Miami Open triumph
Petra Kvitova snubbed a young fan right after winning her 30th WTA career title at the Miami Open after the girl’s mother nudged her daughter in the path of the Czech while she was hugging her team.
Kvitova ended Elena Rybankina’s 13-match winning streak with her Miami summit clash win, downing the the 10th seed 7-6(14), 6-2. The Kazakh had a chance to win the Sunshine Double after having reigned supreme at the Indian Wells Open back in March, where she took down Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets in the final.
This was Kvitova’s first WTA 1000 title since the 2018 Madrid Open
Considering how pivotal the moment was, right after winning the match, she went near her box in the stands and started hugging her family and team. However, a mother and a young fan also made their way down to the stands to get a glimpse of the newly crowned champion.
The enthusiastic mother nudged her daughter to sneak in an autograph while Kvitova embraced her near and dear ones. Understandably, the 33-year-old refused to oblige, waving the fan away nonchalantly. The WTA’s official Twitter account shared a video of the Czech’s winning moment, which also captured the incident.
Petra Kvitova says she is ‘proud’ and ‘grateful’ after Miami Open win
Czech star Petra Kviotva is over the moon after winning her 30th WTA title and 9th WTA 1000 title at the Miami Open.
The two-time Wimbledon champion outclassed Elena Rybakina in the final, who was one win away from clinching the Sunshine Double, defeating the Kazakh 7-6(14), 6-2. After the first set, which lasted a whopping 66 minutes, Kvitova easily dislodged Rybakina in the second set with two breaks of serve.
The 33-year-old, after her triumph at the Miami Open, has now been catapulted into the top 10 of the WTA rankings. Kvitova had never crossed the quarterfinals stage in the past twelve years in Miami, which she managed to change this year, marking her first even triumph in the competition.