2011 Petra Kvitová tennis season

2011 Petra Kvitová tennis season

Petra Kvitová won her first Grand Slam title at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships
Name	Petra Kvitová
Country	Czech Republic
Singles
Season record	60-13 (82.19%)
Calendar titles	6
Current ranking	No. 2
Year-end ranking	No. 2
Ranking change from previous year	32
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF
French Open	4R
Wimbledon	W
US Open	1R

The 2011 Petra Kvitová tennis season officially began at the 2011 Brisbane International, the first of two simultaneous events which opened the official 2011 season.

Yearly summary

Australian Open series

Kvitová began her season at the 2011 Brisbane International, as an unseeded player. She upset third seed Nadia Petrova in the first round, then followed it up with wins over Ksenia Pervak, Dominika Cibulková and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach her first final since 2009, where she faced Andrea Petkovic of Germany. Kvitová won in straight sets to win only her second career title and first in almost two years.^[1]

As a result of reaching the final in Brisbane, Kvitová had to withdraw from the qualifying draw for the Medibank International Sydney.

Kvitová's next tournament was the 2011 Australian Open, where she was the 25th seed. She defeated Sally Peers, Anna Chakvetadze, fifth seed Samantha Stosur and Flavia Pennetta, the latter in three sets, to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time. There, she lost to World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva in straight sets.^[2] Following the run in Australia, Kvitová entered the world's top 20 for the first time.

Fed Cup quarter-finals

Following the Australian Open, Kvitová was named in the Czech Republic Fed Cup team for its quarter-final against Slovakia. Kvitová won both of her rubbers against Dominika Cibulková and Daniela Hantuchová; her victory over the latter ensured the Czech Republic would progress through to the semi-finals.

Indoor/Middle East series

Following the Fed Cup quarter-finals, Kvitová participated at the 2011 Open GDF Suez, where she was seeded fourth. After surviving three-setters against fellow Czech Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová and Yanina Wickmayer in earlier rounds, she reached the final, upsetting soon-to-be World No. 1 Kim Clijsters in straight sets to win her second title for the year.^[3]

Kvitová then made an early exit from her next tournament, losing in the first round of the 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships to Ayumi Morita of Japan.^[4]

American hard court season

The next stop for Kvitová following the Middle East swing was the Premier Mandatory Indian Wells tournament in March. After receiving a bye in the opening round, Kvitová was upset by fellow Czech Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, whom she had beaten in Paris the previous month, in the second round.^[5]

Kvitová then received a wildcard into the Bahamas Women's Open, but she was upset in the first round by Kristina Barrois in three sets, marking a third consecutive defeat.^[6]

The Sony Ericsson Open saw somewhat of a brief return to form for Kvitová; after receiving a first round bye, she defeated Varvara Lepchenko for her first match victory in almost six weeks, but was then upset in three sets by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round.^[7]

Fed Cup semi-finals

Petra Kvitová was instrumental in winning the Czech Republic their sixth Fed Cup title in 2011.

Following her disappointing North American hard court season, Kvitová next represented the Czech Republic in its semi-final against Belgium. Kvitová won both of her singles rubbers against Kirsten Flipkens and Yanina Wickmayer, as the Czechs progressed to the final.^[8]

Clay court season

Kvitová kicked off her clay court season at the Mutua Madrid Open, where she was seeded 16th. After defeating Alexandra Dulgheru and Chanelle Scheepers in the first two rounds, she defeated second seed Vera Zvonareva in straight sets in the Round of 16 to progress to the quarter-finals.^[9] She then went on to defeat Dominika Cibulková (who had upset Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova in earlier rounds) and Li Na to reach her third final for the year, where she would meet Victoria Azarenka. In the final, Kvitová survived a first set tiebreak and went on to win in straight sets, claiming her first career Tier I/Premier Mandatory title in the process.^[10] By winning this title, Kvitová entered the Top 10 for the first time in her career.

Rather than participate in Rome, Kvitová decided to travel home to participate at her home ITF event, the Sparta Prague Open. Seeded first, Kvitová reached her fourth final of the year, but would end up losing to Slovak Magdaléna Rybáriková.^[11] During the tournament, she suffered a hip injury, which would force her to withdraw from the Brussels Open the following week.

Kvitová's next tournament was the 2011 French Open, where she was seeded ninth. She defeated Gréta Arn, Zheng Jie and Vania King to reach the fourth round, where she was defeated by the eventual champion, Li Na, in three sets, having led by a break in the final set.^[12]

Grass court season

Kvitová holds the Venus Rosewater Dish

Following a modest clay court campaign, Kvitová made the transition to grass by participating in the AEGON International event in Eastbourne. She defeated Anastasija Sevastova, Ekaterina Makarova, Agnieszka Radwańska and Daniela Hantuchová (the latter retiring) to reach the final, but found Marion Bartoli too good for her in the championship match, losing in three sets.^[13]

Wimbledon was next for Kvitová, where she had reached the semi-finals in 2010. Intent on going one better, Kvitová won her first four matches without conceding more than three games in a single set, before surviving three-set thrillers against Tsvetana Pironkova and Victoria Azarenka, to reach her first Grand Slam final. There, she met Maria Sharapova, who was seen as a favourite to win her second title after previously triumphing in 2004. However, Kvitová would win in straight sets to win her first Grand Slam title at the expense of the Russian.^[14]

US Open series

Kvitová's form dropped off following her successful grass court campaign. She suffered a pair of losses to Andrea Petkovic in Toronto and Cincinnati (both in the third round and both after receiving a first round bye), then became the first reigning Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round of the US Open when she lost her first match to Alexandra Dulgheru.^[15] She finished the US Open series with a paltry 2–3 win-loss record from five matches.

Asian hard court season

Following her unsuccessful US Open series campaign, Kvitová rebounded at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, defeating Mandy Minella, Vania King and Maria Sharapova (retired) before losing to Vera Zvonareva in the semi-finals.^[16]

Kvitová then received a first round bye at the China Open, but was defeated in her first match by Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.^[17] That would be the last time that Kvitová was beaten in 2011.

Indoor hard court season

Following the Asian hard court swing, Kvitová received a wildcard into the Generali Ladies Linz, thus making her the top seed. With the exception of her semi-final victory over Jelena Janković, Kvitová won all of her matches in straight sets, including in the final, where she defeated Dominika Cibulková to win her fifth title of the year.

WTA Tour Championships

As a result of Kvitová's excellent results this year, she qualified for the 2011 WTA Tour Championships for the first time in her career. She drew Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwańska in her group in the round robin stage. She went through this stage without dropping a set, thus qualifying for the semi-finals. She then defeated Samantha Stosur in three sets to advance to the final, where she would meet Victoria Azarenka for the third time in the year. Kvitová would win in three sets, to claim her sixth title of the year, go through the entire championships undefeated and become the first woman since Maria Sharapova in 2004 to win the title on her first attempt.^[18]

Fed Cup final

To round out the season, Kvitová took part in the Czech Republic's Fed Cup championship match against Russia. She won both of her singles rubbers, against Maria Kirilenko and Svetlana Kuznetsova, as the Czechs claimed their sixth Fed Cup title.^[19] Her two singles rubbers saw her finish 2011 on a twelve-match winning streak, which she would unofficially^{[lower-alpha 1]} extend to eighteen in the early part of 2012.

All matches

Singles matches

Tournament	Match	Round	Opponent	Result	Score
Brisbane International Brisbane, Australia WTA International Hard, outdoor 2–8 January 2011
	1	1R	Nadia Petrova	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–3
	2	2R	Ksenia Pervak	Win	1–6, 6–4, 6–2
	3	QF	Dominika Cibulková	Win	6–0, 6–4
	4	SF	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Win	6–4, 4–6, 6–2
	5	W	Andrea Petkovic	Win (1)	6–1, 6–3
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 17–30 January 2011
	6	1R	Sally Peers	Win	6–2, 6–4
	7	2R	Anna Chakvetadze	Win	6–3, 6–4
	8	3R	Samantha Stosur	Win	7–6(7–5), 6–3
	9	4R	Flavia Pennetta	Win	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
	10	QF	Vera Zvonareva	Loss	6–2, 6–4
Fed Cup WG 1st Round Bratislava, Slovakia Hard, indoor 5–6 February 2011	11	1R R2	Dominika Cibulková	Win	6–2, 6–3
	12	1R R3	Daniela Hantuchová	Win	6–4, 6–2
Open GDF Suez Paris, France WTA Premier Hard, outdoor 7–13 February 2011
	13	1R	Vesna Manasieva	Win	7–5, 6–4
	14	2R	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Win	6–4, 6–7(6–8), 7–6(11–9)
	15	QF	Yanina Wickmayer	Win	5–7, 6–3, 7–6(7–3)
	16	SF	Bethanie Mattek-Sands	Win	6–2, 6–0
	17	W	Kim Clijsters	Win (2)	6–4, 6–3
Dubai Tennis Championships Dubai, United Arab Emirates WTA Premier Hard, outdoor 14–20 February 2011	18	1R	Ayumi Morita	Loss	6–7(2–7), 6–7(3–7)
Indian Wells Indian Wells, United States of America WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 7–20 March 2011		1R	Bye
	19	2R	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	Loss	6–3, 2–6, 5–7
The Bahamas Women's Open Nassau, Bahamas ITF Circuit ($100,000) Hard, outdoor 14–20 March 2011	20	1R	Kristina Barrois	Loss	6–1, 5–7, 3–6
Sony Ericsson Open Miami, United States of America WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 21 March–3 April 2011		1R	Bye
	21	2R	Varvara Lepchenko	Win	6–1, 6–2
	22	3R	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Loss	4–6, 7–6(7–3), 0–6
Fed Cup WG Semifinals Charleroi, Belgium Hard, indoor 16–17 April 2011	23	SF R1	Kirsten Flipkens	Win	6–2, 7–6(7–4)
	24	SF R3	Yanina Wickmayer	Win	5–7, 6–4, 6–2
Mutua Madrid Open Madrid, Spain WTA Premier Mandatory Clay, outdoor 2–8 May 2011	25	1R	Alexandra Dulgheru	Win	6–4, 6–1
	26	2R	Chanelle Scheepers	Win	6–3, 6–3
	27	3R	Vera Zvonareva	Win	6–1, 6–4
	28	QF	Dominika Cibulková	Win	3–6, 6–3, 7–5
	29	SF	Li Na	Win	6–3, 6–1
	30	W	Victoria Azarenka	Win (3)	7–6(7–3), 6–4
Sparta Prague Open Prague, Czech Republic ITF Circuit ($100,000) Clay, outdoor 9–15 May 2011	31	1R	Anne Keothavong	Win	7–6(7–1), 6–3
	32	2R	Elena Baltacha	Win	6–2, 6–3
	33	QF	Mathilde Johansson	Win	6–1, 6–1
	34	SF	Aleksandra Krunić	Win	6–4, 6–2
	35	F	Magdaléna Rybáriková	Loss	3–6, 4–6
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam Clay, outdoor 22 May–5 June 2011	36	1R	Gréta Arn	Win	6–2, 6–1
	37	2R	Zheng Jie	Win	6–4, 6–1
	38	3R	Vania King	Win	6–4, 6–2
	39	4R	Li Na	Loss	6–2, 1–6, 3–6
AEGON International Eastbourne, United Kingdom WTA Premier Grass, outdoor 13–19 June 2011	40	1R	Anastasija Sevastova	Win	5–7, 6–1, 6–3
	41	2R	Ekaterina Makarova	Win	7–6(10–8), 7–6(7–4)
	42	QF	Agnieszka Radwańska	Win	1–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–2)
	43	SF	Daniela Hantuchová	Win	7–6(11–9), 4–2 ret.
	44	F	Marion Bartoli	Loss	1–6, 6–4, 5–7
The Championships, Wimbledon London, Great Britain Grand Slam Grass, outdoor 20 June–3 July 2011	45	1R	Alexa Glatch	Win	6–2, 6–2
	46	2R	Anne Keothavong	Win	6–2, 6–1
	47	3R	Roberta Vinci	Win	6–3, 6–3
	48	4R	Yanina Wickmayer	Win	6–0, 6–2
	49	QF	Tsvetana Pironkova	Win	6–3, 6–7(5–7), 6–2
	50	SF	Victoria Azarenka	Win	6–1, 3–6, 6–2
	51	W	Maria Sharapova	Win (4)	6–3, 6–4
Rogers Cup Toronto, Canada WTA Premier 5 Hard, outdoor 8–14 August 2011		1R	Bye
	52	2R	Anabel Medina Garrigues	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–3
	53	3R	Andrea Petkovic	Loss	1–6, 2–6
Western & Southern Open Cincinnati, United States of America WTA Premier 5 Hard, outdoor 15–21 August 2011		1R	Bye
	54	2R	Chanelle Scheepers	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–3
	55	3R	Andrea Petkovic	Loss	3–6, 3–6
US Open New York City, United States of America Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 29 August–12 September 2011	56	1R	Alexandra Dulgheru	Loss	6–7(3–7), 3–6
Toray Pan Pacific Open Tokyo, Japan WTA Premier 5 Hard, outdoor 26 September–1 October 2011		1R	Bye
	57	2R	Mandy Minella	Win	6–2, 6–3
	58	3R	Vania King	Win	6–1, 7–6(7–4)
	59	QF	Maria Sharapova	Win	4–3 ret.
	60	SF	Vera Zvonareva	Loss	6–7(2–7), 0–6
China Open Beijing, China WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 1–9 October 2011		1R	Bye
	61	2R	Sofia Arvidsson	Loss	6–7(6–8), 6–4, 3–6
Generali Ladies Linz Linz, Austria WTA International Hard, indoor 10–16 October 2011
	62	1R	Rebecca Marino	Win	6–2, 6–2
	63	2R	Patricia Mayr-Achleitner	Win	6–2, 6–3
	64	QF	Daniela Hantuchová	Win	6–2, 6–2
	65	SF	Jelena Janković	Win	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
	66	W	Dominika Cibulková	Win (5)	6–4, 6–1
WTA Tour Championships Istanbul, Turkey WTA Tour Championships Hard, indoor 24–30 October 2011
	67	RR	Vera Zvonareva	Win	6–2, 6–4
	68	RR	Agnieszka Radwańska	Win	7–6(7–4), 6–3
	69	RR	Caroline Wozniacki	Win	6–4, 6–2
	70	SF	Samantha Stosur	Win	5–7, 6–3, 6–3
	71	W	Victoria Azarenka	Win (6)	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
Fed Cup Final Moscow, Russia Hard, indoor 4–6 November 2011	72	F R1	Maria Kirilenko	Win	6–2, 6–2
	73	F R3	Svetlana Kuznetsova	Win	4–6, 6–2, 6–3

Tournament schedule

Singles schedule

Yearly Records

Head-to-head match-ups

Ordered by percentage, number of victories to number of losses, then in alphabetical order

Finals

Singles: 8 (6–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2.	January 8, 2011	Brisbane International, Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Andrea Petkovic	6–1, 6–3
Winner	3.	February 13, 2011	Open GDF Suez, Paris, France	Hard (i)	Kim Clijsters	6–4, 6–3
Winner	4.	May 8, 2011	Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid, Spain	Clay	Victoria Azarenka	7–6(7–3), 6–4
Runner-up	2.	May 15, 2011	Sparta Prague Open, Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Magdaléna Rybáriková	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	3.	June 19, 2011	Aegon International, Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Marion Bartoli	3–6, 4–6
Winner	5.	July 2, 2011	Wimbledon Championships, London, United Kingdom	Grass	Maria Sharapova	6–3, 6–4
Winner	6.	October 16, 2011	Generali Ladies Linz, Linz, Austria	Hard (i)	Dominika Cibulková	6–4, 6–1
Winner	7.	October 30, 2011	WTA Tour Championships, Istanbul, Turkey	Hard (i)	Victoria Azarenka	7–5, 4–6, 6–3

Team competitions: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Team	Opponents in the final	Score
Winner	6.	November 4–6, 2011	Fed Cup, Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Lucie Hradecká Květa Peschke Lucie Šafářová	Maria Kirilenko Svetlana Kuznetsova Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Elena Vesnina	3–2

Awards

• 2011 ITF World Champion
• 2011 WTA Most Improved Player

See also

• 2011 Serena Williams tennis season
• 2011 WTA Tour

Notes

References

External links

• All of Petra Kvitova's 2011 results, Tennis Matchstat