Petra Kvitová

Petra Kvitová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈpɛtra ˈkvɪtovaː], English: /kəˈvɪtəvə/; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed shots and variety, she has won seven WTA singles titles. As of 31 October 2011, she is ranked World No. 2. 

Kvitová won the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and the 2011 WTA Tour Championships singles titles. By winning Wimbledon, she became the first Grand Slam event winner born in the 1990s.

Early life

Petra Kvitová was born to Jiří Kvita^[2] and Pavla Kvitová in Bílovec, Czech Republic (in 1990 still in Czechoslovakia). Her father Jiří introduced her to tennis.^[3] During her childhood, she liked Czech American player Martina Navratilova. Kvitová trained in her hometown until the age of 16, and was then encouraged by an instructor to pursue a professional career in tennis.^[4]

Playing style

Kvitová is known for her fast left-handed serve. At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, she had 36 aces, the third-most of any woman.^[5] She is also noted for her heavy forehand, backhand, variety, and timing, and is known to make up for her lack of speed by playing close to the baseline.^[6][7]

Career

2008–2010: Early career

Kvitová began 2008 by upsetting Anabel Medina Garrigues in France and former World No. 1 Venus Williams in Memphis, reaching the second rounds of both tournaments.^[8] She reached the fourth round of her first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, in which she lost to Kaia Kanepi in three sets. She advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2008 Zurich Open as a qualifier, thus placing her in the top 50 for the first time.^[8]

Kvitová won her first career title in the 2009 Moorilla Hobart International, defeating Alona Bondarenko, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Virginie Razzano, and Iveta Benešová. After suffering consecutive first-round losses in the Australian Open, the Open GDF Suez, and Dubai, she reached the third round in Indian Wells, losing to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva.^[9] She withdrew from the 2009 French Open due to an ankle injury and lost in the first round of Wimbledon. At the 2009 US Open, she defeated then-World No. 1 Dinara Safina in the third round in three sets, before losing to Yanina Wickmayer in the fourth. Kvitová was ranked 71 places lower than Safina at the time. At the Generali Ladies Linz, Kvitová reached her second final of the year, losing in straight sets to Wickmayer.^[9]

She reached the semifinals of the 2010 Cellular South Cup, and lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova.^[10] She went on to reach the semifinals of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Sorana Cîrstea, Zheng Jie, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, and Kaia Kanepi before losing to then-World No. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams 6–7, 2–6. She was then guaranteed to reach the top 30 for the first time. Following Wimbledon, she broke a six-match losing streak at the 2010 US Open, when she defeated Lucie Hradecká, and Elena Baltacha, losing to eventual champion Kim Clijsters in the third round.^[10] 

2011: Breakthrough

Kvitová started 2011 by winning her second career title at the Brisbane International by defeating Andrea Petkovic 6–1, 6–3 in the final and also earning wins over third seed Nadia Petrova and fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. With the win, she achieved the ranking of World No. 28.^[11] 

Kvitová was the 25th seed at the 2011 Australian Open, where she lost a quarterfinal match to then-World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva. Her strong run ensured that she would reach a new ranking of World No. 18.^[12]

In Paris, Kvitová won her second title of the year by defeating newly crowned World No. 1 and 2011 Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters in straight sets 6–4, 6–3.^[13] Once again, Kvitová's ranking rose to a new high of World No. 14. She led the Czech Fed Cup team to the final round, with semifinal wins over Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens.^[14] She won all of her matches in the earlier rounds.^[12]

She won the title at the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open, defeating Alexandra Dulgheru, Chanelle Scheepers, second seed Vera Zvonareva, Li Na, and Victoria Azarenka.^[15] She made her top-10 debut after the tournament at World No. 10. The following week, by virtue of Jelena Janković failing to defend her points in the 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Kvitová moved one place up to No. 9.^[12]

Kvitová was the ninth seed at the 2011 French Open. She defeated Gréta Arn, Zheng Jie, and Vania King in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion Li Na in the fourth round, despite leading 3–0 in the deciding set.^[16]

Kvitová won her first Grand Slam title as the 8th seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Alexa Glatch, Anne Keothavong, 29th seed Roberta Vinci, 19th seed Yanina Wickmayer, 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova, and fourth seed Victoria Azarenka on the way to the final, where she beat fifth seed Maria Sharapova in straight sets, 6–3, 6–4.^[17] She became the first left-handed player to win the title since Martina Navratilova in 1990, the first Czech player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Jana Novotna won Wimbledon in 1998, and the first Grand Slam tournament winner of either gender to be born in the 1990s.^[18][19]

Following Wimbledon, Kvitova lost to Andrea Petkovic during two matches of the US Open Series. She was then upset by Alexandra Dulgheru at the 2011 US Open, becoming the first Grand Slam Champion to lose in the first round of the following Grand Slam without winning a set.^[20]

Kvitova's form improved at the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she lost to Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals, thus reaching the World No. 5 ranking.

At the 2011 Generali Ladies Linz, she beat Rebecca Marino, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Daniela Hantuchova, Jelena Jankovic, and Dominika Cibulkova to collect her fifth title of the season.^[12]

She won the 2011 WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul. During the Round Robin matches, she beat Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki, and Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets, putting her through to the semifinals. Her next opponent was Samantha Stosur, who she beat 5–7, 6–3, 6–3 to reach her first WTA Championships final, a match against Victoria Azarenka for the World No. 2 ranking that she won 7–5, 4–6, 6–3.^[12] She concluded 2011 by helping the Czech Republic team win the Fed Cup, and was named WTA Player of the Year and ITF Women's World Champion.^[21]

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Singles performance timeline

Awards

References

External links

• Petra Kvitová at the Women's Tennis Association
• Petra Kvitová at the International Tennis Federation