Cincinnati Tournament | Petra Kvitova advances to the final

(Mason) Czech Petra Kvitova came from behind and secured her ticket to the Western & Southern Tennis Open final in suburban Cincinnati with a three-set 6-7 (6) victory , 6-4, 6-3 against American Madison Keys on Saturday afternoon.

In this duel between two former players of the top 10now 28^e and 24^e respectively, Kvitova prevailed over Keys in 2 hours 17 minutes, helped by broken services in the first and ninth games of the deciding set.

By the way, Kvitova had to save three break points in the eighth game, a feat she achieved by scoring five points in a row to give herself a 5-3 lead.

After dropping two match points in the ninth game, Kvitova was able to confirm the victory when Keys sent a parallel forehand that landed in the doubles lane.

Holder of 29 career titles, including one in 2022, Kvitova will be at her 40^e participation in a final, but his first in this tournament. Keys was hoping to take part for the second time in his career following his triumph in 2019.

Kvitova will face Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia on Sunday, winning 6-2, 4-6 and 6-1 ahead of Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.

Rain interrupted the game when Garcia was leading 6-2, 1-1.

Garcia outshot Sabalenka 6-3 for the break, who committed 32 unforced errors.

Ranked 35^e in the world, Garcia is the first player to reach the final of a WTA 1000 tournament after going through the qualifications.

“Actually, nobody expected it,” said Garcia. The road is long from qualifying. You have to go one game at a time, trying to improve with each game. »

The Frenchwoman has already reached the fourth echelon of women’s tennis.

She will participate in a first final of a WTA 1000 for five years.

Since June, Garcia has been titled in Bad Homburg and Warsaw.

She has won three times in eight outings against Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.

“Petra is a great champion,” said Garcia. You need a faster tempo and move faster against a player of her caliber. It will be a great challenge for me to face it. »

Opening for Keys

Keys took a 2-1 lead in the opening set, when Kvitova lost all four points in game three on her serve, three of them on double faults.

Kvitova salvaged the break three games later and after that both players protected their serves unthreatened until the tiebreaker.

With the score at 6-6 in the first-set tiebreak, Keys earned himself a second set point with a cross-court backhand that landed inside the sideline to the right of the Czech.

Keys completed that first set in 55 minutes from the next point when Kvitova returned the American’s first serve into the net.

Kvitova responded in the second set by breaking games in games three and seven to give herself a 5-2 cushion.

Kvitova, however, was unable to take advantage of her serve in the next game, which she awkwardly lost without scoring a single point, or two set points on the American’s serve a game later.

The Czech, however, closed the door by winning the four points on her serve in the 10^e game, thus forcing a decisive set.