Melbourne: Petra Kvitova was naturally disappointed to fall short against the more experienced Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.
Coming after her breakthrough 2011, however, the 21-year-old Czech was able to put the loss in perspective.
"Yes, of course I'm disappointed right now," Kvitova said on Thursday. "If I look back, I don't know, in a week, for example, it will be a good tournament for me, first semi-final in the Australian Open."
"So, I mean, now I'm really sad, but in the next days it will be fine."
The big-hitting Czech player came out of nowhere last year to establish herself as one of the game's elite players and a legitimate contender for major titles for some time to come.
Consider where Kvitova had been a year ago: she came into the 2011 Australian Open seeded No. 25 and went out meekly to then-No. 2 Vera Zvonareva in the quarter-finals.
She then won two tournaments before her remarkable run at Wimbledon, where she defeated Sharapova in the final for her first Grand Slam title. She capped off the year by winning the WTA Championships and rising to No. 2 in the rankings.
Kvitova could have gone all the way up to No. 1 this week had she continued winning in Melbourne.
She and Sharapova have now played each other twice in the latter stages of Grand Slam tournaments, with each claiming a victory.
"Probably I play more aggressive in the Wimbledon and didn't have a lot of mistakes what I did today," she said. "It was fine match for the people, hopefully. I'm looking forward for the next matches."
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