Kvitova rallies to reach maiden Qatar final

PetraKvitova’s game plan of aggressive tennis against Caroline Wozniackialmost backfired on the night. But that’s the way the Czech plays, anddespite a bunch of unforced errors while losing the first set, she neverditched her strategy.And that, ultimately brought her dividends atthe Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex yesterday. Afterlosing the first set, the former two-time Wimbledon champion hit someexceptional forehand winners to outgun top seed Wozniacki 3-6, 7-6 (3),7-5 and seal her place in today’s Qatar Total Open final against GarbineMuguruza.Spain’s Muguruza did not take the court yesterday afterher semi-final opponent, No. 2 seed Simona Halep pulled out of thetournament citing a foot injury after winning her quarter-final match onFriday.While Muguruza enjoyed her day off in the hotel, she couldwell have watched the only semi-final played yesterday, which lasted fortwo hours and 35 minutes and swung like a pendulum.Australian Openchampion Wozniacki had things under control when she won the first setand served for the match not once but twice in the second. But bothtimes 16th seed Kvitova emerged from the deep hole with some stunningforehand winners.In the first set, Kvitova was all over the place asshe belted eight winners but also committed double the unforced errors.And Wozniacki, who had five winners and as many unforced errors, tookadvantage of Kvitova’s scrappy game.Wozniacki took the first breakof the match at 4-2, but was broken right back by Kvitova. The Dane,however, reeled off the next two games to take the opening set.In the second set, Wozniacki continued to stand like a wall as errors flew from Kvitova’s racquet as she raced to a 2-0 lead.ButKvitova was not the one to give up as she pulled things back to drawlevel at 3-3.  At 5-4 and 6-5, Wozniacki had a chance to close out thematch, but Kvitova held on and won four straight points in the tie-breakto send the match into a third set.In the decider, while Kvitova was all charged up, Wozniacki was clearly annoyed to have wasted opportunities. At4-4, a contentious line call made an annoyed Wozniacki complain to thechair umpire for a long time as the Dane lost her focus. She lost herserve the next game only to break right back as Kvitova served for thematch. But Kvitova didn’t let it get away from her, saving her besttennis for last to close out the battle.In the end Kvitova’s winnersmade all the difference. The 27-year-old Czech belted 50 winners toWozniacki’s 14. Last night’s victory also extended Kvitova’s dominanceover Wozniacki, which stands at 8-5 and she has won last four encountersbetween the two. It was also Kvitova’s 12th successive win, having wonin St. Petersburg a fortnight ago, followed by Fed Cup wins lastweekend.“It’s definitely disappointing when I had a chance to serveit out twice in that second set,” said Wozniacki, who was seeking tomake her third Doha final but has never won before. “I didn’t get manyfirst serves in the first game, and in the second game she playedaggressively and I made a few unforced errors. I felt that wasfrustrating because I had my opportunities there,” the 27-year-old said.Kvitova,meanwhile, will play her maiden final in Doha, having not gone beyondthe quarter-final stage in her previous five attempts. For the27-year-old, it will also be her first final appearance at Premier 5level or above since her title in Wuhan in October 2016 – and thebiggest final of her comeback from the knife injuries she sustained in ahome invasion that year.Meanwhile, Gabriela Dabrowski and JelenaOstapenko made it to their maiden final as a pair in the doubles. TheCanadian-Latvian duo scored a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over fellowunseeded pair, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of CzechRepublic, in the semi-finals.Dabrowski and Ostapenko were awaitingthe winners of the other semi-final between Monique Adamczak andLyudmyla Kichenok, and No.8 seeds Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose MartinezSanchez, who were playing a late match last night.