By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, July 31, 2022
Marie Bouzkova won seven straight games dismissing Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-3 to claim her first career title in her hometown of Prague.
Photo credit: Getty
A precise Marie Bouzkova drained the drama from the Prague final and brought buzz to a commanding homecoming climax.
Prague native Bouzkova stormed through seven straight games dismissing Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-3 to capture her first career title in her hometown.
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The 24-year-old Bouzkova, who celebrated her title sitting side-by-side with younger brother Benjamin, is the fifth Czech woman to rule Prague. Bouzkova follows compatriots Barbora Krejcikova (2021), Petra Kvitova (2018), Lucie Safarova (2016) and Karolina Pliskova (2015) as Czech champions in Prague.
A beaming Bouzkova, who learned to play tennis in a Prague club owned by her parents before moving to Florida at age 10, shared her maiden title with Czech fans.
"I just want to thank everyone for watching," Bouzkova said. "It's a dream for me to win my first title here at home. I just couldn't be happier.
"I felt your support, even those who aren't here. It's a dream come true. I enjoyed so much playing in front of the home crowd. Just the first winner's speech, sorry if it's not the best. I enjoyed it so much, thank you for all your support."
Playing her fourth career final, Bouzkova played near flawless baseline combinations permitting Potapova to implode in ashes of errors. Potapova littered 44 unforced errors in the match—36 more than Potapova, who did not hit a winner in a 71-minute sweep but didn't miss much either.
The title propels Bouzkova to a career-high ranking of No. 46 in the live rankings.
The seventh-seeded Potapova, who pounded out a 6-1, 6-1 quarterfinal thrashing of world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit in just 49 minutes, struggled to control her drives throughout her fourth career final.
"Marie, I mean this week for you was amazing and I'm very happy for you the first title at home," Potapova said. "It's very sweet and I'm very happy for you.
"Thank you to my team for the support, I know I'm not an easy girl to play, and lets see what the future will bring."
Carrying the confidence that comes from reaching semifinals or better in her last three events, Potapova came out hitting hard but squandered a 40-15 lead to cede the break in the opening game hat was a bit of a microcosm of the match. Potapova created opportunities with pace, but a patient Bouzkova often made her play another ball to draw another error.
Bouzkova dropped just five points on serve in the first set, while Potapova was just one of seven on second-serve points in the opener.
Unforced errors were piling up for Potapova who double-faulted away the third break and a 5-0 lead to the Czech.
Redirecting with precision, Bouzkova dished out the opening-set bagel in 27 minutes.
It was the first set Potapova lost in five matches this week.
A disgruntled Potapova took a bathroom break to try to clear her head. Potapova tried playing some higher shots, but wasn't striking as cleanly as Bouzkova. Potapova dumped another costly double fault as Bouzkova broke for her seventh straight games to start the second set.
The seventh-seeded Russian was playing with more patience, putting more shape on her shots and controlling the ball a bit better earning break points in the second game. Stepping in, Potapova blistered a backhand crosscourt to snap the scoreless skid and finally get on the board.
Still, an unsettled Potapova sailed successive shots in the third game as Bouzkova broke back for 2-1.
The pair combined for five consecutive breaks to start the second set as Potapova, who had not held serve all day, again double faulted the break and a 3-2 lead to the eighth-seeded Czech.
Glancing over at coach Igor Andreev between points, Potapova could not consistently keep her drives between the lines. Bouzkova earned the first hold of the second set for 4-2.
Thirteen games into the match, Potapova held for the first time to creep closer at 3-4. That was Potapova's last stand.
When Potapova sailed her 44th error beyond the baseline, Bouzkova thrust her arms toward the sky as a euphoric WTA champion on her home turf.