Petra Kvitova fires Wimbledon warning with 31st career title in Berlin

Petra Kvitova wins the 2023 Berlin Open
Petra Kvitova wins the 2023 Berlin Open

World No 9 Petra Kvitova won her second championship of the season on Sunday, beating No 23 Donna Vekic 6-2, 7-6(6) at the bett1open in Berlin, Germany.

The victory gave the two-time Wimbledon champion the sixth grass-court crown of her career.

Kvitova’s 31st career triumph comes after winning the Miami Open earlier this season. Only Venus Williams, the 43-year-old American, has won more titles among active players, with 49 to the veteran’s name.

Kvitova has won multiple tournaments in a single season for the first time since 2019 in a resurgence that sounds a warning to the other top players that she could push for a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles this term.

With victories against Karolina Pliskova, Nadia Podoroska, Caroline Garcia, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Vekic, Kvitova won the title in Berlin without dropping a set. She had not defeated a Top 10 opponent on grass since the Wimbledon final of 2011 until she halted world No 4 Garcia in the quarterfinals.

Stretching back to her championship run in Eastbourne last season, Kvitova has now won 12 of her past 13 games on grass. Over that time, she only dropped four sets.

Kvitova, who was competing in her 42nd WTA Tour final, entered the contest having triumphed in four of the prior five encounters with Vekic.

Vekic advanced to her third WTA 500 final thanks to a strong week in Berlin.

She progressed after defeating No. 3 Elena Rybakina and No. 8 Maria Sakkari, two opponents ranked in the Top 10.

Kvitova’s outstanding big match game was brought to bear right away.

She increased her record in tour-level finals to 31-11 with an assured baseline performance and effective serving to contain Vekic.

In the first set, Kvitova only conceded eight games behind her serve, saving the lone break point she coughed up to snuff out any chance Vekic had to get into the match.

In the second set, Vekic answered with a surge of her own. Vekic began to unravel Kvitova’s game with persistent baseline defense in her second final of the season and first on grass since Nottingham in 2019.

Vekic flipped the momentum as she extended the rallies. She took a 3-1 lead by winning 14 of 20 games and served to force a third set at 5-4.

However, Kvitova broke serve to extend the set, sending it to a tiebreak.

In the tiebreak, Vekic took an early 3-1 lead with a powerful inside-out forehand winner that drew wry smile from Kvitova.

The Czech rallied by winning the next two points to tie the tiebreak at 3-3. As Kvitova took a 5-4 lead with a forehand winner, Vekic absorbed the Czech’s speed to force a mistake and then served her sixth ace to earn her first set point.

With a swinging second serve that earned an inaccurate return, Kvitova saved that set point.

Kvitova then earned her first Championship Point on a wayward forehand from Vekic, and the Czech ended in style, hitting a forehand winner down the line to claim the victory after 1 hour and 41 minutes.

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