Sunday 18 February 2018

Kvitova beats Wozniacki to make Doha final 

The final of the Qatar Total Open will be fought between Garbine Muguruza (4) and Petra Kvitova (16) after Petra defeated top seed Caroline Wozniacki in their semi final - yet another wonderful match in Doha.

It completed the 12th successive match win for Kvitova, coming on top of her title triumph in St Petersburg and two Fed Cup singles wins.

It wasn’t the ideal start for Petra, her first serve percentage poor, and Wozniacki taking advantage, winning her fair share of points on it.

At 2-3 Kvitova was broken but she immediately did likewise.

Wozniacki still was the cooler player in the opening set, proved by her finish, winning the closing games to assert control 6-3.

Kvitová found herself in trouble in set two, down a break 0-2. She hadn’t held serve in her last three attempts.

At 3-1 Wozniacki must have had some confidence that she could win through, having held serve the last three tries.

The sixth game was the turning point of the match, with Kvitova breaking back for 3-3.

After an exchange of games there were four breaks of serve, Caroline serving for the match twice, at 5-4 and 6-5, but failing each time.

Kvitova won the tie break handily seven points to three, and her consistent determination had prevented Wozniacki from taking her chances of winning the match, instead levelling at a set all 3-6 7-6(3)

The final set was another struggle, with top level tennis from both.

The booming left handed serve and heavy ground strokes from the Czech player seemed to be slightly more damaging, even with the first eight games on serve 4-4.

Finally Kvitová managed to break the Aus Open champion’s serve and had the chance to serve for the match.

Never an easy task to serve a match out, whoever you are, or whatever the situation, and Petra fell foul of the moment, Wozniacki drawing level once again at 5-5.

Petra wasn’t to be denied, playing a great game to easily break the Danish serve again.

This time, decisive serving was too much for Wozniacki to handle and the match was over - 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5 to Petra Kvitová in just over two and a half hours.

The final between Muguruza and Kvitova promises to be a blockbuster, with both players running into top form.

Favourite should be Petra - she has won their last three contests, after losing the first at the 2015 WTA Championships.

The most recent win was at last years US Open in the round of sixteen.

Rotterdam has completed its ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament semi finals:

Wildcard Roger Federer (1) defeated lucky loser in qualifying Andreas Seppi 6-3 7-6(3)

Like in Melbourne, Roger had seeds fall aside for him (Wawrinka and Zverev) to eventually be able to face a much lower ranked, unseeded player in the semis.

Grigor Dimitrov (2) defeated David Goffin (4) 6-3 0-1 (retired)

Final will be: Roger Federer (1) v Grigor Dimitrov (2)

New York has completed its New York Open semi finals:

Sam Querrey (2) defeated Adrian Mannarino (4) 6-7(5) 7-5 6-3

Kevin Anderson (1) defeated Kei Nishikori (5) 6-1 3-6 7-6(4)

Final will be Kevin Anderson (1) v Sam Querrey (2)

Buenos Aires has also completed its Argentina Open semi finals:

Dominic Thiem (1) defeated Gael Monfils 6-2 6-1

Aljaz Bedene defeated Federico Delbonis 6-4 2-6 6-1

Final will be Dominic Thiem (1) v Aljaz Bedene

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