When Petra Kvitova thought she could not go on, the Czech hit the critical shots to finally edge Kiki Bertens and claim a record third Madrid Open title on Saturday.
Kvitova outlasted Bertens 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3 in a grueling final decided when the unseeded Dutch player hit a backhand long on the final point after nearly three hours.
“Everything that I had in my body, I just tried to put it out, even if it was very, very tough today,” said Kvitova, who was playing her 11th match in 13 days after also winning the Prague Open last weekend.
Photo: AFP
“In the third set I was really thinking that I can’t do it anymore, but then when you step [into] the shot again, you are just trying to hit the return, you play the rally, the serves, whatever,” she said. “We both should be very proud of this beautiful final we played.”
Kvitova previously won on the Madrid clay in 2011 and 2015. This victory took the Czech’s career total to 24 titles, including four in the first five months of this year.
She and Bertens achieved three breaks each while saving many more chances.
The key moment came when Bertens appeared to have swung the momentum in her favor by pulling back a break in the third set, only for Kvitova to strike right back and recover the advantage for a 5-3 lead. She served out for the championship.
“It was pretty difficult for me to have a break in the third set and lose my serve,” Kvitova said. “Mentally it was very difficult, because I know how tough it is to break her. Luckily, the chance came for the second time.”
Bertens’ appearance in the final meant she is to rise to a career-high 15th in the rankings, but that was little solace after having come so close to the title.
“It really hurts right now,” Bertens said. “Maybe tomorrow or next week or in a few weeks I can really look back on a great week and know I’m on the right way.”
On the men’s side, second seed Alexander Zverev brushed aside Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-1 to reach the final.
Zverev is to face Dominic Thiem after he beat Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-2.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
EMPTY STANDS: Maccabi fans were banned from attending by police, who cited violence and hate crimes when the team played Ajax in Amsterdam last season Aston Villa beat Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday in a Europa League game played amid heightened security measures, with more than 700 police officers deployed to deal with possible protests. Morgan Rogers put through Ian Maatsen in first-half stoppage time for the defender to score from a tight angle and Villa doubled the lead on the hour with Donyell Malen hitting the bottom corner from the penalty spot. It was Villa’s third win from games in the competition. The game at Villa Park had become the center of a political debate after Maccabi fans were banned from attending, as
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
RSS