Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka have made it through to the final and deservedly so as they have played the best the whole week fighting for their matches and showing great strength of character after other players have struggled to close out their contests.
Kvitova started out the better of the two, gliding into a 5-0 lead with high-quality serving and effortless winners whereas Azarenka didn’t seem to show up giving her service games away with an abundance of errors. She started to attend towards the closing stages of the first set breaking Kvitova’s serve and bringing more substance to her own. It was now Kvitova’s turn to be tentative as she lost the rhythm on her usually blistering forehand to allow Azarenka back into the match and so the Belarusian levelled to 5-5. But Kvitova managed to stumble on some momentum to win a bizarre first set 7-5. Although this came with difficulty as Kvitova was only able to take the set at the fifth time of asking due to Azarenka relieving the Czech of any pressure by letting out an unforced error.
The final continued its unpredictability with Azarenka gaining a break and then promptly losing it. Kvitova carried on the theme making unbelievable shots and then breaking down mentally awarding silly errors to let Azarenka gain another break. As the second set progressed Azarenka looked the calmer with Kvitova’s reactions becoming louder, sharper and more aggressive after she won each point. But this did not deter the focused Azarenka as she levelled the match with a set of her own 6-4.
After working herself up into a frenzy in the previous set Kvitova started the better of two going into a 3-0 lead displaying some of her best tennis. With her back against the wall Azarenka started to battle back but this was stopped by Kvitova’s defiant yelps and she kept herself ahead in the important points to win the Championships in energetic style, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
This has been an amazing season for Kvitova starting at No. 34 and finishing at World No. 2, with wins at Wimbledon and now the end of year championships. Both women will certainly be formidable opponents next year.
Results on the ATP Tour:
Vienna
J Tsonga bt J Del Potro 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4
B Bryan/M Bryan bt M Mirnyi/D Nestor 7-6(10), 6-3
St. Petersburg
M Cilic bt J Tipsarevic 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
C Fleming/R Hutchins bt M Elgin A Kudryavtsev 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-8
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