Soon after Genie Bouchard tossed the ball in the air to deliver the first serve of the final, it was never going to be anything but a second title for the extraordinarily talented Czech left hander, and to the 20 year old Canadian's credit, she did as well as most human beings could hope to have performed against a player who was at the very top of her game at the perfect time.
It took only until the third game for the scoreboard to reflect the dominance of Kvitova, whose quality serving and powerful and accurate ground shots were another world away from the previous Bouchard contests with which she had little problem, up to and including the semi final dismissal of Halep.
Genie fought hard, putting that break of serve behind her and holding with her next attempt, even taking Kvitova to deuce in the fourth game. Petra just continued hitting winners though, and inevitably another break came - at 5-2 it was a chance to serve for the set.
Never an easy task, and not so today with a momentary lapse of concentration allowing Genie to grab one of the breaks back.
That was all she wrote for Bouchard as Kvitova, annoyed at spoiling her own statistics, won the remaining seven games of the match. Over half the points won by Petra were either clean winners or aces, which lets Genie off the hook somewhat. She did not do a hell of a lot wrong, apart from being on the wrong side of the net on the wrong day.
Petra Kvitova has won two of the last four Wimbledons, and the momentum from this victory I'm sure will carry her career into a more consistent phase of excellence. She is only 24 and ready to take on the best in the world with a renewed confidence in her game, one which has a number of weapons not carried by others in the top ten. Genie Bouchard is ready for her share of Grand Slam glory and it may not be far away, just not against Petra on grass.
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