Berlin: World number five Li Na withstood a late comeback from Petra Kvitova to beat the fifth-seeded Czech 6-3, 7-5 on Friday and set up a Stuttgart Grand Prix semi-final with American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
The second seed from China was put under early pressure by a series of sizzling Kvitova groundstrokes but responded by rattling off five consecutive games to snatch the first set. World number eight Kvitova took an early 2-0 lead in the second set before Li bounced back again, reeling off another five straight games.
The Australian Open runner-up then twice had her serve broken as the mercurial Kvitova blasted a string of superb service returns past her opponent to level at 5-5. A fine volley and a brilliant return from an unimaginable angle put Li 6-5 ahead and she finally went through on her third match point when the Czech netted a backhand.
Mattek-Sands advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 win over German Sabine Lisicki. Earlier, top seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova struggled to dispose of former world number one Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 7-5, 4-6, 6-4....
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08:56 AM, Apr 27, 2013
Palermo: The Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova rallied to beat seventh-ranked Sara Errani 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 Sunday after a five-hour rain delay and cut Italy's lead to 2-1 in the Fed Cup semifinals. The eighth-ranked Kvitova won the final 11 games of the rainy match, overwhelming Errani with her attacking game. Kvitova, who has led the Czechs to the Fed Cup title the past two years, held a 26-6 edge in...
12:46 AM, Apr 22, 2013
Palermo: Roberta Vinci will face Petra Kvitova on the opening day of the Fed Cup semi-finals between Italy and the two-time defending champion Czech Republic. Vinci beat former Wimbledon champion Kvitova in straight sets in Poland last weekend to move up to a career-high ranking of No. 12. The semifinal opens Saturday with seventh-ranked Sara Errani facing the 25th-ranked Lucie Safarova. After reverse singles on Sunday on the red clay...
06:22 PM, Apr 19, 2013
Erratic serving cost Petra Kvitova dearly as the fifth-seeded Czech lost 4-6 6-4 6-3 to Russian Maria Kirilenko. ...
07:20 AM, Mar 14, 2013
Kvitova overpowered defending champion Radwanska 6-2, 6-4 to set up a semi-final against Caroline Wozniacki in the Dubai Championships. ...
09:52 AM, Feb 22, 2013
Former Wimbledon champion Kvitova set up a second-round match with former No.1 Ana Ivanovic. ...
10:34 PM, Feb 19, 2013
If the 31-year-old Williams reaches the semi-finals by beating seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova she will return to No. 1 for the first time in 2½ years. ...
08:55 AM, Feb 15, 2013
Kvitova rallied to overcome Samantha Stosur 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in a matchup of top-10 players to give the Czechs an insurmountable 3-0 lead. ...
09:14 PM, Feb 10, 2013
Kvitova defeated Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6 (2), 6-3 before Safarova edged Sam Stosur 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4). ...
11:30 PM, Feb 09, 2013
Czech captain Petr Pala will stick with the same squad that lifted the crown for a second straight year in November. ...
11:58 PM, Jan 28, 2013
Former Wimbledon champion Kvitova has advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Schiavone. ...
10:10 AM, Jan 15, 2013
Prague: Lucie Safarova will open the Fed Cup final for the defending champion Czech Republic against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. The 17th -ranked Safarova is 3-2 against the 12th-ranked Ivanovic, who is former No. 1. "It would be great to start with a lead," Safarova said at the draw ceremony at Prague City Hall. "That's what I'm going to try and I'm looking forward to." Eighth-ranked Petra Kvitova, who led...
07:42 PM, Nov 02, 2012
Prague: Petra Kvitova regards this weekend's Fed Cup final as her last chance to salvage a year which has been a big comedown after her stellar 2011. Kvitova led the Czech Republic last year to its first Fed Cup title in 23 years, and this weekend she will help defend that crown at home against Serbia. Despite withdrawing midway through last week's elite WTA Championships with bronchitis, she said on...
12:03 AM, Nov 01, 2012
Prague: Petra Kvitova, who has withdrawn from the WTA championships in Istanbul because of a viral illness, will lead the Czech Republic in their Fed Cup title defence against Serbia next month in Prague. The Czechs will seek to become the third consecutive nation to retain the title after Italy in 2009-10 and Russia in 2007-2008. World number six Kvitova helped her country defeat Italy in the semi-finals. "She is...
06:30 PM, Oct 24, 2012
Istanbul: Defending champion Petra Kvitova has withdrawn from the WTA Championships due to a viral illness and will be replaced by Samantha Stosur, tournament officials announced on Wednesday. The world number six was able to play her first match in the White group on Tuesday but was toppled 6-3 6-2 by Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in a contest that saw the Czech commit a whopping 41 unforced errors. Australian Stosur will...
05:56 PM, Oct 24, 2012
Istanbul: Agnieszka Radwanska defeated titleholder Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-2 to start round-robin play at the WTA Championships on Tuesday. Kvitova entered the match with a 25-match winning streak indoors but she was in trouble early, losing the first three games. Although she recovered to tie at 3-all, Radwanska broke serve again and served out the set. Kvitova dropped her first two service games of the second, and broke back once....
09:31 PM, Oct 23, 2012
New York: Maria Sharapova is back in the US Open quarter-finals for the first time since winning the title in 2006. Shrieking loudly during points, screaming and pumping her fist after winning them, Sharapova grabbed control after a 75-minute rain delay to beat 19th-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on Sunday night. Sharapova improved to 11-0 this season in three-set matches. She trailed 2-0 in the final set against Petrova,...
09:12 AM, Sep 03, 2012
New York: British teenager Laura Robson drew the curtain on Kim Clijsters' illustrious singles career on Wednesday by eliminating the former world number one from the US Open as other top guns encountered little resistance. While Victoria Azarenka and David Ferrer cruised to straight-sets victories at Flushing Meadows, Belgian Clijsters had tears in her eyes after her shock 7-6 7-6 defeat in the second round. The three-times US Open champion...
10:22 AM, Aug 30, 2012
New York: Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic rose to fifth in the new WTA rankings published on Sunday after winning the New Haven Open. Kvitova defeated Russia's Maria Kirilenko 7-6(9), 7-5 in a close-fought final on Saturday to swap places with Angelique Kerber of Germany, who is now sixth in the table. Belarus' Victoria Azarenka remains the World No. 1 ahead of Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska and Russia's Maria Sharapova. Reaching...
05:47 PM, Aug 26, 2012
Montreal: Petra Kvitova overcame a mid-match slump to claim her first title of the season with a 7-5 2-6 6-3 victory over China's Li Na in the Montreal Cup on Monday. In an entertaining but erratic encounter between two former major winners, the fifth seed's first tournament win since last October's WTA Championship will lift the Czech's confidence ahead of the U.S. Open starting at the end of the month....
11:51 AM, Aug 14, 2012
