TENNIS WIMBLEDON 2014 – Petra Kvitova won her second Wimbledon title ruthlessly dismissing Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0 in just 55 minutes. Now she is a two-time Wimbledon Champion. She joins Venus and Serena Williams as the only active players with multiple Wimbledon titles. Cordell Hackshaw
Results, Order of Play, Draws and Interviews from The Championships
Back in 2011, after Petra Kvitova won her first major title at Wimbledon, everyone predicted that the Czech would dominate women’s tennis. The pressure got to her and she began descend down the rankings and Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka became the leaders of the tour. No more was Kvitova a feared opponent as she was losing badly to low-ranked opponents. However, one sensed that Kvitova believed that she could be winning majors again when she took out 5-time champion Venus Williams in the 3rd round. Besides that epic match, Kvitova has had little trouble with the rest of the field. Now today facing a young inexperience Eugenie Bouchard for the title, Kvitova was simply ruthless as she routed the Canadian 6-3 6-0 in just 55 minutes. Now she is a two-time Wimbledon Champion. She joins Venus and Serena Williams as the only active players with multiple Wimbledon titles.
Bouchard and Kvitova arrived on court looking comfortable and confidence as they each held serve to start the match. However, that all changed in the 3rd game with Bouchard serving. The Canadian up 30-0 saw that lead disappear as Kvitova grew aggressive in her return game. Soon Kvitova had the first break points of the match. Bouchard did well to save one of them but she could save the other when Kvitova slapped a forehand winner into the open court. Bouchard tried her best to break Kvitova in the next game but the Czech showed off her defensive skills to consolidate the break. Kvitova then in turn would break Bouchard again to lead 5-2. Serving for the set, Kvitova showed the first signs of nerves as she double faulted and allowed Bouchard back into the set by being broken. However, Bouchard had little reprieve as she was soon facing triple set points. The Canadian saved two set points but could not keep the ball in play on the third and Kvitova had the 1st set 6-3 in 32 minutes.
In the 2nd set, it was all Kvitova. She was now in full stride. She was getting the returns in deep and hard and Bouchard was left floundering on the baseline. Kvitova broke for a 2-0 lead. In the 3rd game, Bouchard was able to get to deuce but Kvitova came up with the big serves and quickly closed the door on any break chance opportunity for the Canadian. “[F]or the first time I said, Oh, my God, this is good! I can really run and put everything back … I was there. I was for 100% ready for everything for what I should do there,” Kvitova said. Bouchard’s struggles to hold serve continued as no lead was safe. In the 4th game, she was up 40-15 but again, Kvitova was hitting the lines with the returns and Bouchard could not handle the weight of shots coming off the Czech’s racquet. She was being outhit and outpaced from all areas of the court. She was also broken yet again to go down 0-4. This second break was too much for Bouchard as both she and her camp realized that they were facing a superior opponent. Bouchard neither had the experience nor arsenal to impact the game of Kvitova. Kvitova easily held serve for 5-0 and Bouchard serving to stay in the match soon saw a crosscourt backhand winner whizzing by her to close out the match; 6-3 6-0 Kvitova.
“I knew that I could play well on the grass, but I really played so well today,” Kvitova said after the match. She was just too much for Bouchard to handle today. Kvitova won 82% of her 1st serve points with 28 winners and 12 errors compared to Bouchard who was only winning 46% on her 1st serve points and could only get 8 winners. Kvitova was not even allowing Bouchard to make errors as the Canadian only had 4 for the entire match. Kvitova was even more quick around the court than Bouchard, which is surprising because Kvitova’s fitness has always been called into question and she is not known as the best mover on tour. Even Bouchard had to admit as much, “She has weapons. We know that when she’s on, she’s very tough to beat. Especially on this surface.” Bouchard, however, is not discouraged by this loss “Tennis is not a timed sport. You can always come back, no matter what.”
