Co-favorite Petra Kvitova surprisingly failed at the WTA Premier 5 event in Cincinnati. In the semi-finals of the Western and Southern Open, the Czech lost 6:3, 4:6 and 2:6 to a strong Kiki Bertens.
Czech Petra Kvitova had to take a hard blow before the big showdown in New York City.
In a fiercely contested first set, both players acted constantly at the beginning and, above all, Bertens was not initially disturbed by her favourite opponent. At 2-2, the Dutch woman scored her first effective goal and took the lead with a break.
This should serve as a wake-up call for the left-hander on the other side. Kvitova bit himself into the game, grabbed the immediate re-break and should also win Bertens’ next service game. After 39 minutes, Kvitova turned her first set ball into a 6:3 set lead.
In the second set the underdog should also start into the round. Bertens managed the break right at the beginning and in the meantime took the lead 3-0. But as in the first set, the Dutch woman’s lead should not last long.
Kvitova increased the pressure on her opponent and consistently used her chances for 2:3 connection. As a result, both players stumbled at their own service and took the serve off each other again.
Kvitova’s third serve loss was ultimately too much and Bertens made up for it with a 6-4 loss in the sets.
In the final round, the famous momentum was clearly on the side of the Dutch woman, who again had an early break and this time remained solid on her own serve.
Kvitova seemed exhausted from the long matches in the preliminary rounds and had to accept several slight mistakes. On the other side Bertens remained aggressive, pushing the Czech onto the defensive and controlling the game.
A well-deserved tri-set victory in the end makes Bertens dream of her first Premier 5 tournament victory and inflicts a painful defeat on Kvitova’s way to the US Open.