Spoiler:
- In just her second tournament since injuring her left hand during a home invasion, Petra Kvitova roared back from a set down to defeat Ashleigh Barty, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win her first title of the year at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.
Attacked in her home during the off-season, Kvitova made a triumphant comeback earlier than expected at Roland Garros, where she won her first match since finishing the 2016 season with the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai title.
Switching to grass immediately proved fruitful for the two-time Wimbledon winner, who rolled into her first grass court final in nearly three years without dropping a set in Birmingham.
Across the net was young Aussie Barty, another comeback kid who briefly left the sport at the end of 2014 to pursue a career in cricker. She made her return last year and is arguably better than ever, winning her maiden WTA title earlier this year at the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur and finishing runner-up at the French Open women's doubles event with countrywoman Casey Dellacqua.
Barty stunned 2015 Wimbledon runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets en route to her second final of the season and appeared poised for a breakout moment against Kvitova, losing just one point in her first four service games and staving off nerves to clinch the opening set.
"I think it was a pretty high quality match," Barty said after the match. "We both started well and I served particularly well in that first set and I think it gave me the upper hand."
Kvitova took control from there, racing out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and playing emphatic tennis in the decider to take the title after one hour and 47 minutes on court.
Swinging freely from the baseline, the No.7 seed struck 35 winners to just 25 unforced errors, smacking 13 aces and converting five of eight break point opportunities.
Despite the loss, Barty managed 14 winners of her own and only hit 12 unforced errors in three sets, forcing the former World No.2 to fight for the first title of her comeback.
"It’s so amazing to have Petra back on the court. She’s such an inspiration. She’s always been a great champion but I think we appreciate that more now that she’s back playing week-in and week-out. Hopefully she is able to stay healthy and doesn’t have any more issues and I hope she has a really successful season.
"I think we have to be very happy with where the game is at. I’ve played some quality tennis and lost to only a couple of good players. So I’m really excited and I can’t wait to get to Wimbledon."
Attacked in her home during the off-season, Kvitova made a triumphant comeback earlier than expected at Roland Garros, where she won her first match since finishing the 2016 season with the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai title.
Switching to grass immediately proved fruitful for the two-time Wimbledon winner, who rolled into her first grass court final in nearly three years without dropping a set in Birmingham.
Across the net was young Aussie Barty, another comeback kid who briefly left the sport at the end of 2014 to pursue a career in cricker. She made her return last year and is arguably better than ever, winning her maiden WTA title earlier this year at the BMW Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur and finishing runner-up at the French Open women's doubles event with countrywoman Casey Dellacqua.
Barty stunned 2015 Wimbledon runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets en route to her second final of the season and appeared poised for a breakout moment against Kvitova, losing just one point in her first four service games and staving off nerves to clinch the opening set.
"I think it was a pretty high quality match," Barty said after the match. "We both started well and I served particularly well in that first set and I think it gave me the upper hand."
Kvitova took control from there, racing out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and playing emphatic tennis in the decider to take the title after one hour and 47 minutes on court.
Swinging freely from the baseline, the No.7 seed struck 35 winners to just 25 unforced errors, smacking 13 aces and converting five of eight break point opportunities.
Despite the loss, Barty managed 14 winners of her own and only hit 12 unforced errors in three sets, forcing the former World No.2 to fight for the first title of her comeback.
"It’s so amazing to have Petra back on the court. She’s such an inspiration. She’s always been a great champion but I think we appreciate that more now that she’s back playing week-in and week-out. Hopefully she is able to stay healthy and doesn’t have any more issues and I hope she has a really successful season.
"I think we have to be very happy with where the game is at. I’ve played some quality tennis and lost to only a couple of good players. So I’m really excited and I can’t wait to get to Wimbledon."
/ Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Hiszpania, 
