Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic celebrates match point after winning her Ladies' final round match against Maria Sharapova of Russia on Day Twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 2, 2011 in London, England. Kvitova won 6-3 6-4. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Petra Kvitova beat former champion and tournament favorite Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon final to win her first major tennis title.
Kvitova defeated the Russian, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court at the All England Club in southwest London. Kvitova, 21, sunk to her knees after she won her first major title with an ace. She is the first Czech woman to win Wimbledon since 1998, when Jana Novotna took the title. Novotna watched from the royal box.
"It's hard to find some words, standing here with the trophy and see some of the great players in the royal box" Kvitova said in a court-side interview. "Of course I was nervous, but I felt I could win Wimbledon."
The lefthander's path to her first major championship had been cleared when defending champion Serena Williams and five- time winner Venus Williams both lost in the fourth round. Serena had beaten Kvitova in the semifinals last year. The Williams sisters, who before today had taken nine of the past 11 singles titles at the All England Club, had only played one tournament before Wimbledon after long injury-related lay-offs. Kim Clijsters, the reigning U.S. Open and Australian Open champion from Belgium, was forced to pull out of Wimbledon with an injury.
"Unfortunately in tennis there is only one winner at the end of the day," Sharapova said in a court-side interview. Although she lost in the finals, Sharapova said it was "wonderful" to be back at this stage of a major.
Sharapova's Comeback
Sharapova, 24, had been trying to add a second Wimbledon championship to the one she captured as a 17-year-old seven years ago, before a shoulder injury threatened the career that has made her the best-paid woman in sports.
Kvitova lost her opening service game, then immediately broke back. In the third game, Sharapova had another break point, but the Czech took it back and won the game with a forehand. With Kvitova leading 3-2, the Russian had two double faults in a row to lose the game. Sharapova continued to struggle with her serve and Kvitova had a set point at 5-2 before the Russian held. With triple set point, Kvitova took her first opportunity to win the set.
Sharapova opened the second set on serve, and double faulted to give a break point that Kvitova took with a forehand on the line. She won her service game before Sharapova held. That broke a streak of six straight games for Kvitova.
Sharapova broke back with a lob to even the set at 2-2. The Russian couldn't hold her own serve, but Kvitova missed two ground strokes into open court to allow the Russian back in at 3-3. Again, Kvitova got two break points. She lost one on a backhand in the net, but Sharapova hit a forehand long.
First Ace
She held her serve, forcing Sharapova to serve to stay in the match. The righthander held at love, and the Czech got three match points when Sharapova hit a backhand into the net. She won with her first ace of the match.
Kvitova produced 19 winners, while Sharapova had 10. The Czech made 13 unforced errors, one more than the Russian. Sharapova hit six double faults, two more than Kvitova.
Kvitova had begun the year ranked 62nd on the WTA Tour rankings and has climbed to eighth by winning three tournaments and reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open at the start of the season. She'll climb to No. 7 after Wimbledon.
Sharapova, a three-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1, had been the 4-7 favorite to win the title at U.K. bookmaker William Hill Plc. That means a successful $7 bet would have returned $4 plus the original wager. Kvitova was at 6-4.
Not Since Navratilova
Kvitova is the first left-handed player to reach the Wimbledon championship match since nine-time champion Martina Navratilova, a former Czech and her idol growing up, made the 1994 finals.
Kvitova, who trains in the same Czech tennis club as last year's men's finalist, Tomas Berdych, in Prostejov, is the fourth Czech-born woman to reach the Wimbledon title match. Novotna and Navratilova both won the title, while Hana Mandlikova was a runnerup twice.
Kvitova's win marks the first time since 2008 that three different women have won the year's first three majors. Clijsters won in Melbourne, while Li Na became the first player from China to win a major singles title at Roland Garros last month.
To contact the reporters on this story: Danielle Rossingh at Wimbledon through the London sports desk at drossingh@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net
