By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, April 1, 2023
Petra Kvitova saved five set points in the tiebreaker toppling reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 7-6(14), 6-2 to capture her maiden Miami Open title.
Photo credit: Mike Frey/Getty
MIAMI—Major challenges don't scare Petra Kvitova.
Facing five set points in the tiebreaker today, Kvitova had no time for fear factor.
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Striking with courage at crunch time, Kvitova conquered Indian Wells champion Elena Rybakina 7-6(14), 6-2 to capture her maiden Miami Open championship and 30th career title.
"I think this is the best feeling what you can have, winning a final as I did today," Kvitova said. "That's I love the most, the winning feeling of it."
The 33-year-old Kvitova joined Serena Williams and Chrissie Evert as the only women to contest the Miami final after celebrating her 33rd birthday. Among active women, only Venus Williams (49) owns more tournament titles than Kvitova, who raised her finals record to 30-11.
Before a near-capacity crowd that included former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, Kvitova beat Rybakina for the second time this season, taking a 2-1 lead in their head-to-head series to return to the Top 10
In a clash of Wimbledon champions that lived up to its blockbuster billing for one set, Kvitova snapped Rybakina's career-best 13 match winning streak, denied her quest to become the fifth woman in history to complete the Sunshine Double and handed the Australian Open finalist her first tiebreaker loss of the season.
"For sure the tiebreak was deciding today I think all the match," Kvitova said. "I think it was the longest one I ever played in my life, and it was like, yeah, if I didn't serve, I couldn't be there.
"I mean, I got like three aces at the beginning and it was really tough. I had a break like in the first set, and she break me back. It's nothing really easy to hanging out with Elena as I did today. So I'm really happy, I'm very exhausted."
It is Kvitova's biggest tournament title since the 2019 Madrid as she makes history as the first Czech woman to lift the Miami Open title.
What a week it was for Kvitova, who saved two set points in her 7-5, 6-4 victory over Sorana Cirstea yesterday and withstood some serious stress in the tiebreaker today.
The 10th-seeded Rybakina ripped 12 aces, won 31 of 39 first-serve points and had several opportunities to close the opener. Rybakina's 69 aces over this fortnight is the most ever struck by a woman in a WTA 1000 tournament though she looked depleted by the latter stages of the second set.
Ultimately, Rybakina said trying to decipher Kvitova's lefty slider serve and rally off the Czech's flat, fast drives was challenging.
"It took me time to get used to Petra's balls. Also, she plays really low, and it's not easy against her," Rybakina said. "And also to try to read the serves, she's lefty, so it's already kind of advantage, because last match I played with a righty, so it was not easy.
"And she played really well. The second set I think overall it was not easy after the first set. I think second she was also more free to hit, to maybe risk a bit more. Yeah, I think that in the second I just didn't stay disciplined and was a bit rushing."
The two-time Wimbledon winner served for the set at 5-4, but Rybakina rallied. Kvitova couldn't consistently find her forehand in that game as Rybakina's returns were both jarring and jamming. Rybakina broke back to level after 10 games.
An empowered Rybakina slammed shut a love hold to edge ahead 6-5 after 39 minutes. Kvitova came right back with a love hold to force the tiebreaker.
The seventh-ranked Rybakina carried a 7-0 tiebreaker record in 2023 into this extra session—and showed the shotmaking under pressure that make her a tiebreak titan.
The 22-minute tiebreaker took tension and set-point pressure to exhilarating height as each woman held a fistful of set points in the breaker.
Rybakina rapped four of her 10 aces in the set in the tiebreaker, including throwing down an ace down the T for a fifth set point at 13-12.
Kvitova cranked a forehand to save it.
Holding a 14-13 tiebreaker lead, Kvitova was in control of the ensuing rally only to see Rybakina fire a forehand on the 14th shot to level at 14-14.
Finally, Kvitova unsettled Rybakina with a deep forehand return for a fifth set point at 15-14. This time, Rybakina missed a forehand as Kvitova shook off the disappointment of missed set points at 6-5, 8-7, 10-9 and 14-13 before finally ending a punishing breaker when Rybakina missed a forehand.
Kvitova hit one more winner—17 to 16—in an exceedingly tight set where neither woman could gain much separation. It was Kvitova's poise and her willingness to keep taking her cracks even after set points slipped through her grip that helped her snatch the 66-minute opening set.
The physicality of her Sunshine Double success took a toll on Rybakina.
"Of course I was feeling tired, actually since Indian Wells, I would say. Just tried to push myself in the final. Gave everything I had," Rybakina said. "Yeah, maybe if the first set would have gone my way it would have been different, the second, but of course because I was physically a bit tired, I think that's why I didn't have discipline in the important moments.
"I was also making some stupid decisions on the court, so I think just overall, but Petra played well."
The veteran Czech was an untouchable 23-0 in finals when winning the first set and wasted little time extending her lead.
Kvitova was amping up the pace of her drives as she tore through seven of the first eight points, breaking for a 2-0 second-set lead.
Mixing the slider serve wide with her flatter serves in the ad side, Kvitova stamped a love hold for 4-1.
When Rybakina's final forehand flew long on championship point, Kvitova flung her Wilson racquet aside and thrust her arms toward the sky standing as Miami Open champion.
The victim of a horrific home invasion in 2016, Kvitova fought for her life against an armed intruder. She suffered stab wounds to her left hand that required a three-hour plus surgery in December of 2016 to repair ligament and tendon damage.
Kvitova, who still lacks feeling in one finger on her racquet hand, confesses her hand will never fully recover.
An ugly, brutal attack mangled her hand, but Kvitova refused to let it damage her heart. One reason why so many tennis fans were touched by this title run and paid tribute to Kvitova with an extended ovation.
"I'm just trying to kind of, you know, be still fair play and play even normal and behave normally," Kvitova said. "We are still human beings. I think that's how it is, and that's how tennis is in my eyes.
"It's always a sport, it's a gentleman's sport. That's how I feel it."