Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard Reach Wimbledon Final
WIMBLEDON, England - Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova stood just inside the door of Wimbledon's Centre Court clubhouse, waiting to be called to their semifinal match. The two have been friends, training partners and Fed Cup teammates in the Czech Republic for years.
They wore matching Nike headbands and dresses. They chatted and smiled. Martina Navratilova, the Czech-born champion, said it looked as if they were going to play doubles together.
The doors opened to a warm reception and a sunny day. But niceties evaporated quickly.
Sixth-seeded Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, broke Safarova's first serve, survived a first-set tiebreaker and moved into Saturday's final with a 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory.
'It was a tough match, mentally as well, because Lucie is a good friend of mine,' Kvitova said.
She will play the winner of the semifinal between third-seeded Simona Halep of Romania and 13th-seeded Eugenie Bouchard of Canada.
The quartet that arrived at Thursday's semifinals demonstrated, again, that any predictability at the top of women's tennis has been gone for years. Increasingly, each Grand Slam event arrives with no real expectation of who will be left to challenge for the title, which is how this year's Wimbledon semifinals felt, like pairings drawn from a hat.
In each year since 2011, three different women have won the first three Grand Slam events: the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon.
Kvitova, comparatively, is as dependable as they come in late June and early July. She won the final three years ago, beating Maria Sharapova in straight sets. Her size and power make her a formidable opponent for anyone on the quick grass, and she has made perennial trips to the quarterfinals or beyond since 2010. She has now won 25 of her past 28 matches at the tournament.
No one knows Kvitova's game better than Safarova. A better mover and scrambler than her friend, she tried to keep Kvitova off balance with a mix of speeds and cross-court shots. Kvitova's relentless ground strokes, like a ball machine turned to full power, kept Safarova backed to the baseline more than she wanted.
Safarova had never beaten Kvitova in five previous tries, but came closest on grass at Eastbourne last month, losing a third-set tiebreaker. They became the first pair of left-handers to meet in the Wimbledon semifinals since Navratilova and Monica Seles in 1992.
They were inseparable through a well-played first set until a tiebreaker. Neither could take charge until Safarova swatted a forehand into the net, and Kvitova hit an unreturnable cross-court forehead on set point. She screamed, likely in relief as much as excitement.
Kvitova broke Safarova's serve moments later, on her way to the two-set victory. Safarova, trailing, 1-3, in the second set, had a break point that she could not convert. The match was never in doubt again.
Safarova, 27, has a reputation as a talented, steady top-50 player. She has proved capable of beating the best, beating top-10 players 18 times, but not stringing victories together to make deep tournament runs.
Until this week, she had reached the quarterfinals in only one Grand Slam event, the 2007 Australian Open. She reached a seminal in her 37th Slam appearance; only four women in the Open Era have had more. She called the quarterfinal victory over Ekaterina Makarova 'the best day of my life, I think.'
It was, certainly, the best tournament of her life, but it came to an abrupt end. Kvitova closed it out with a backhand cross-court winner, bringing the crowd to its feet. The two players met at the net with a long hug, heading separate ways, their friendship renewed.
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