Roberta Vinci, seeded second at the very first BNP Paribas Katowice Open, is also the tournament's first champion. Vinci defeated top seed Petra Kvitova 7-6, 6-1 in the final of the red clay event. I wasn't able to watch the final, but my understanding is that some good tennis was played, but that--ultimately--Kvitova got sliced off of the court by Vinci. Vinci is a clever player by any standard, but she really shines on clay.
Expectations are never that high (slump notwithstanding) for Kvitova on clay, but it's worth noting that in 2011, she won Madrid. To reach the final she took out Vera Zvonareva, Dominika Cibulkova and Li Na, and she defeated Victoria Azarenka in the final.
Lara Arruabarrena and Lourdes Dominguez Lino won the Katowice doubles title, defeating Raluca Olaru and Valeria Solovyeva 6-4, 7-5 in the final. Olaru and Solovyeva were up a break in both sets.
4 comments:
Vinci mentioned that Kvitova was tired. Well, Petra has put on weight again, and will have to curtail her bistro visits, banquets and the like. Watching the video of her 2011 Wimbledon match against Pironkova, it was apparent to me that Kvitova's fitness was at a high point then. Not so today.
Agreed. I also remember a time when Kvitova was rail-thin and looked scary.
Fitness is an imperative. Petra should not lose to the likes of Vinci, good though Roberta is. At Wimbledon, Petra beat her handily. Petra was indeed in better shape then.
A positive for Petra. She served and volleyed and came in successfully until she slowed mid-way through the second set. She is the best volleyer in the WTA. She's entertaining even when losing. Exasperating too!
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