TENNIS WIMBLEDON 2014 – It was billed as the battle of former Wimbledon Champions; Venus Williams five-time champion versus Petra Kvitova, 2011 champion in the 3rd round. Despite, Kvitova having a 3-1 record against Williams, this match was still a highly anticipated match up. Kvitova was determined not to lose another 3-set match when she rallied from a set down to take the match 5-7 7-62 7-5 in the two and a half hours battle. Cordell Hackshaw
Results, Order of Play, Draws and Interviews from The Championships
It was billed as the battle of former Wimbledon Champions; Venus Williams (30) five-time champion (2000-01, 2005, 2007-2008) verses Petra Kvitova (6), 2011 champion in the 3rd round. Despite, Kvitova having a 3-1 record against Williams, this match was still a highly anticipated match up. The veteran American showed some of her best tennis since her announcement of Sjögren Syndrome several years ago. However, it was not enough to get past Kvitova who was determined not to lose another 3-set match when she rallied from a set down to take the match 5-7 7-62 7-5 in the two and a half hours battle. “[T]oday I did the best I could. I think she played well at every single moment. There weren’t a lot of opportunities for either one of us. She played well. I gave it my all. Sometimes it’s not enough,” Williams said after the match.
Williams chose to serve to open the match and she would have to fight off a break point in order to hold serve. However, from then on till the end of the set, the American was simply superb on serve, holding comfortably throughout. She dropped just 6 points on serve for the set with 3 aces and no double faults. She looked every inch the young woman who made it to 8 Wimbledon finals between 2000 and 2009. Kvitova too was serving at a high percentage as they remained on serve until the 12th game. Williams sensing the moment was right for the break, played her most aggressive return game and broke Kvitova at love for the set 7-5.
A lesser player than Kvitova might have wilted on court after losing serve in this manner and the tremendous amount of pressure being placed on her by Williams. However, the Czech is a former major winner and even more determined. She continued to play from behind in the 2nd set, digging herself out of a 0-30 hole in the 6th game to remain on serve. She tried her best to break the Williams serve but she would not see a break point in the 2nd set. Twice Kvitova served to stay in the match down 4-5 and 5-6 and twice she came up with the big serves to avert danger including a 30-30 scoreline during the 10th game. By holding serve in the 12th game, Kvitova forced the set to be decided in a breaker.
In the tiebreaker, Williams showed the first signs of fragility in the entire match as none of her famous assets; her big serves, deep penetrating returns, excellent movement and defensive to offensive shots came to her aid. She played a poor breaker and in no time, Kvitova was in control for the first time in the match. Perhaps, it was deja-vu for Kvitova as she lost a tough 3rd round match several weeks ago in Paris to Svetlana Kuznetsova, because she played some of her most aggressive points of the match to surge ahead 6-2 in the breaker. Williams serving to extend the set would double fault on set point, giving Kvitova renewed life and a chance for the match in a decisive 3rd set.
In the 3rd set, it was Williams who played catchup as Kvitova served first and held at love. Kvitova made some inroads into the Williams serve in the 8th game of the set getting to 30-30 but Williams would hold to keep the match levelled at 4-4. Williams would have a near sniff on a break point in the 9th game at 0-30 but Kvitova again came up with the big serves to hold at 5-4. Now, every service game from Williams would be life or death. Kvitova came close to breaking for the win at this point as Williams up 40-15 played some loose points including double faulting to make the score to deuce. However, Williams too brought out the big serves to avert danger. Kvitova was able to hold serve for 6-5 and put the pressure back on Williams to serve to stay in the match a 2nd time. Williams cracked under the pressure as it was soon 15-40 and Kvitova had two match points. Incidentally, this was the second time Kvitova would be seeing a break point on the Williams’s serve after the opening game. This time around, Williams’ big serve was not at her disposal and Kvitova unleashed on the return and Williams dumped the ball into the net. Kvitova moves through to the Round of 16 on Monday 5-7 7-62 7-5.
Kvitova summed up her performance, “Definitely I’m pleased that I won. I’m in the second week of the Grand Slam, so that’s really nice to have this feeling. Yeah, I’m pleased with my performance. I mean, I don’t think that I was better player today actually all the match, but I just keep it and try to win the important points in the tiebreak, then I just tried to wait for some breakpoint.” This is true as both players were equally good. There were only three break opportunities in the match and both players were broken once. Just like her first two matches, Williams numbers were impressive. She won 75% of her 1st serve and 53% on 2nd serve. She had 25 winners with 6 aces to 19 errors. Kvitova’s numbers were slightly better with 11 aces, winning 74% on 1st serve points and 60% on 2nd serve. Perhaps the 2nd serve difference was the main factor in the match or perhaps the fact that Kvitova had 48 winners and 34 errors attesting to her aggressive nature. However, Kvitova only won 4 more points than Williams in the entire match; 113 to 109. There was really not much separating the two, even Williams is in agreement, “Yeah, it’s a shame there had to be a loser in this match and more of a shame that it had to be me. But all I can say is that it’s great to see women’s tennis on such a high level.”
