Petra Kvitová

Petra Kvitová at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships
Country	Czech Republic
Residence	Fulnek, Czech Republic
Born	(1990-03-08) 8 March 1990 (age 22) Bílovec, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Turned pro	2006
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$ 6,948,498
Singles
Career record	218–101
Career titles	7 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 2 (31 October 2011)[1]
Current ranking	No. 4 (28 May 2012)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	SF (2012)
French Open	4R (2008, 2011)
Wimbledon	W (2011)
US Open	4R (2009)
Other tournaments
Championships	W (2011)
Doubles
Career record	9–24
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 196 (28 February 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2011)

Petra Kvitová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈpɛtra ˈkvɪtovaː], English: /kəˈvɪtəvə/; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed shots and variety, she has won seven WTA singles titles. She reached her career-high ranking of world no. 2 in October 2011, and is currently ranked world no. 4. 

Kvitová won the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and the 2011 WTA Tour Championships singles titles, becoming the first Grand Slam event winner born in the 1990s, and the third player to win the WTA Championships in her first attempt. She also reached the semifinals of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships and the 2012 Australian Open.

Early life[link]

Petra Kvitová was born to Jiří Kvita^[2] and Pavla Kvitová in Bílovec, Czech Republic (in 1990 still in Czechoslovakia). Her father Jiří introduced her to tennis.^[3] During her childhood, she admired Czech player Martina Navratilova. Kvitová trained in her hometown until the age of 16, and was then encouraged by an instructor to pursue a professional career in tennis.^[4]

Playing style[link]

Kvitová is known for her fast left-handed serve. At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, she had 36 aces, the third-most of any woman.^[5] She is also noted for her heavy forehand, backhand, variety, and timing, and is known to make up for her lack of speed by playing close to the baseline.^[6][7]

Career[link]

2008–2010: Early career[link]

Kvitová began 2008 by upsetting Anabel Medina Garrigues in France and former world no. 1 Venus Williams in Memphis, reaching the second rounds of both tournaments.^[8] She reached the fourth round of her first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, in which she lost to Kaia Kanepi in three sets. She advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2008 Zurich Open as a qualifier, thus placing her in the top 50 for the first time.^[8]

Kvitová won her first career title in the 2009 Moorilla Hobart International, defeating Alona Bondarenko, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Virginie Razzano, and Iveta Benešová. After suffering consecutive first-round losses in the Australian Open, the Open GDF Suez, and Dubai, she reached the third round in Indian Wells, losing to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva.^[9] She withdrew from the 2009 French Open due to an ankle injury and lost in the first round of Wimbledon. At the 2009 US Open, she defeated then-world no. 1 Dinara Safina in the third round in three sets, before losing to Yanina Wickmayer in the fourth. Kvitová was ranked 71 places lower than Safina at the time. At the Generali Ladies Linz, Kvitová reached her second final of the year, losing in straight sets to Wickmayer.^[9]

She reached the semifinals of the 2010 Cellular South Cup, and lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova.^[10] She went on to reach the semifinals of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Sorana Cîrstea, Zheng Jie, Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, and Kaia Kanepi, before losing to then-world no. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams, 6–7, 2–6. She was then guaranteed to reach the top 30 for the first time. Following Wimbledon, she broke a six-match losing streak at the 2010 US Open, when she defeated Lucie Hradecká, and Elena Baltacha, losing to eventual champion Kim Clijsters in the third round.^[10]

2011: Breakthrough[link]

Kvitová holds the Venus Rosewater Dish

Kvitová started 2011 by winning her second career title at the Brisbane International, defeating Andrea Petkovic, 6–1, 6–3, in the final, and also earning wins over third seed Nadia Petrova and fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. With the win, she achieved the ranking of world no. 28.^[11] 

Kvitová was the 25th seed at the 2011 Australian Open, where she lost a quarterfinal match to Vera Zvonareva. Her strong run ensured that she would reach a new ranking of world no. 18.^[12]

In Paris, Kvitová won her second title of the year by defeating newly crowned world no. 1 and 2011 Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3.^[13] Once again, Kvitová's ranking rose to a new high of world no. 14. She led the Czech Fed Cup team to the final round, with semifinal wins over Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens.^[14]

Kvitová in the final 2011 Fed Cup against Kuznetsova

She won the title at the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open, defeating Alexandra Dulgheru, Chanelle Scheepers, second seed Vera Zvonareva, Li Na, and Victoria Azarenka.^[15] She made her top-10 debut after the tournament at world no. 10. The following week, because Jelena Janković failed to defend her points in the 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Kvitová moved one place up to no. 9.^[12]

Kvitová was the ninth seed at the 2011 French Open. She defeated Gréta Arn, Zheng Jie, and Vania King in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion Li Na in the fourth round, despite leading 3–0 in the deciding set.^[16]

Kvitová at the 2011 US Open

Kvitová won her first Grand Slam title as the eighth seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Alexa Glatch, Anne Keothavong, 29th seed Roberta Vinci, 19th seed Yanina Wickmayer, 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova, and fourth seed Victoria Azarenka on the way to the final, where she beat fifth seed Maria Sharapova in straight sets.^[17] She became the first left-handed female player to win the singles title since Martina Navratilova in 1990, the first Czech player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Jana Novotna won Wimbledon in 1998, and the first Grand Slam tournament winner of either gender to be born in the 1990s.^[18][19]

Following Wimbledon, Kvitová lost to Andrea Petkovic during two matches of the US Open Series. She was then upset by Alexandra Dulgheru at the 2011 US Open, becoming the first Grand Slam champion to lose in the first round of the following Grand Slam without winning a set.^[20]

Kvitová's form improved at the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she lost to Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals, thus reaching the world no. 5 ranking.

At the 2011 Generali Ladies Linz, she beat Rebecca Marino, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Daniela Hantuchova, Jelena Jankovic, and Dominika Cibulková to collect her fifth title of the season.^[12]

She won the 2011 WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul, becoming the third player to win the title in her first attempt.^[21] During the round-robin matches, she beat Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki, and Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets, putting her through to the semifinals. Her next opponent was Samantha Stosur, whom she beat to reach the final—a match against Victoria Azarenka for the world no. 2 ranking, which Kvitová won in three sets.^[12] She concluded 2011 by helping the Czech Republic team win the Fed Cup and was named WTA Player of the Year and ITF Women's World Champion.^[22]

Kvitová practicing in 2012

2012[link]

At the beginning of 2012, Kvitová was widely expected to reach the world no. 1 ranking.^[23][24] She stated that attaining the position "would be nice," but that her priority was to improve her game.^[23] Kvitová opted not to defend her title and ranking points in Brisbane, choosing instead to participate in the Hopman Cup exhibition with Tomáš Berdych. The pair went on to win the title, defeating France in the final. She won all of her singles matches at the event, defeating Tsvetana Pironkova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Caroline Wozniacki, and Marion Bartoli.^[25] Her next tournament was the 2012 Sydney International, where she lost in the semifinals against Li Na. At the 2012 Australian Open, Kvitová defeated Vera Dushevina, Carla Suarez Navarro, Maria Kirilenko, Ana Ivanović, and Sara Errani to advance to the semifinals, where she lost in three sets to Maria Sharapova.^[25]

She continued her long run of wins in singles matches indoors (32 straight matches) with her four victories in Fed Cup against Germany and Italy in 2012.

In Indian Wells, Kvitová lost in the third round to Christina McHale in three sets. In Key Biscayne, she exited in the second round after losing in three sets to Venus Williams. In the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she lost in the semifinals to Maria Sharapova.^[25] At the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open she was the defending champion, but she lost in the second round to Lucie Hradecká.

Career statistics[link]

Grand Slam finals[link]

Singles: 1 (1–0)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	2011	Wimbledon	Grass	Maria Sharapova	6–3, 6–4

Singles performance timeline[link]

Kvitová in Moscow with the trophy for the Fed Cup winners, 2011

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Petra Kvitová

• Petra Kvitová at the Women's Tennis Association
• Petra Kvitová at the International Tennis Federation

Awards
Preceded by Melanie Oudin	WTA Newcomer of the Year 2010	Succeeded by Irina-Camelia Begu
Preceded by Kim Clijsters	WTA Player of the Year 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Francesca Schiavone	WTA Most Improved Player 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Elena Dementieva	Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by First title	WTA Fan Favorite Breakthrough Player 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Caroline Wozniacki	ITF World Champion 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Martina Sáblíková	Czech Athlete of the Year 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent

v t e Women's Tennis Association: Top Czech female singles tennis players as of 28 May 2012 1. Petra Kvitová (4 ) 2. Lucie Šafářová (22 ) 3. Petra Cetkovská (26 ) 4. Klára Zakopalová (44 2) 5. Iveta Benešová (51 ) 6. Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová (60 1) 7. Lucie Hradecká (61 1) 8. Andrea Hlaváčková (92 1) 9. Eva Birnerová (113 3) 10. Karolína Plíšková (122 1)

Sara Errani

File:S Errani.jpeg Sara Errani in 2012
Country	Italy
Residence	Bologna, Italy
Born	(1987-04-29) April 29, 1987 (age 25) Bologna, Italy
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	60 kg (130 lb)
Turned pro	2002
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$2,488,393
Singles
Career record	298–217
Career titles	5 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 23 (May 21, 2012)
Current ranking	No. 24 (May 28, 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (2012)
French Open	4R (2012)
Wimbledon	3R (2010)
US Open	3R (2009, 2010)
Doubles
Career record	188–129
Career titles	13 WTA, 6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 8 (May 14, 2012)
Current ranking	No. 8 (May 28, 2012)
Last updated on: May 28, 2012.

Sara Errani (born April 29, 1987 in Bologna, Italy), nicknamed "Poco Gigante", is a professional female tennis player from Italy. On May 21, 2012, she reached a new career-high of no. 23 on the Tour rankings. On May 14, 2012, Errani became a top 10 doubles player and had a career high rank of World No. 8. She won five WTA titles in her career, and also has two ITF Titles.

Career[link]

Early life and Junior career[link]

At age 12 her father sent her to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. At 16 she moved to Valencia, in Spain, to be coached by Pablo Lozano and David Andres.^[1]

Errani competed in her first event at the $10,000 Cagliari event in her native country of Italy in 2002 where she lost to Sun Tiantian 6–1, 6–0. She continued to compete in the ITF, where her best performance of the year was a semifinal appearance in $10,000 Zaton. She continued to participate mainly on the ITF, where she won her first tournament 6–1, 6–4 over Lucia Jiminez in Melilla, Italy 2005.

2008-2011[link]

Her first WTA title of her career was in the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, where she defeated Mariya Koryttseva. On July 27, 2008, she captured her second career title in two weeks defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6–3, 6–3. She has also won six doubles WTA titles.

In 2009, Errani was the runner-up at two WTA tournaments: in Palermo and Portoroz, as the defending champion in both.

With Italy, she won the Fed Cup in 2009 and 2010.

In February 2011, she reached the final of the PTT Pattaya Open, where she was defeated by Daniela Hantuchová.

2012[link]

Errani's breakthrough year came in 2012. At the 2012 Australian Open Errani advanced to her first grand slam quarterfinals, defeating Nadia Petrova, Sorana Cirstea, and Jie Zheng en route before losing to Petra Kvitova. Her ranking jumped to World No.33, a career best.

At the Abierto Monterrey Open, Errani was the 2nd seed where she reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual champion Timea Babos 6–4 6–7 6–4, but she triumphed in Acupulco on clay as the 3rd seed, winning her 3rd career title. She defeated fellow italians Roberta Vinci 7–5 6–1 and 2nd seed Flavia Pennetta 6–7(5) 7–5 6–0 in her last two matches.

Errani fell in the opening rounds of Indian Wells to Vania King 7–6 6–4, and in the 2nd round of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open against Sloane Stephens 3–6 6–2 7–5.

As the 7th seed at the Barcelona Ladies Open, Errani stormed to her 4th career title and 2nd of the year year, not dropping a set as she sweeped through the draw , beating 2nd seeded Julia Goerges 6–2 6–3 (in QF), Carla Suarez Navarro 6–1 6–2 (in SF) and Dominika Cibulkova 6–2 6–2 in the final. Her ranking increased to World No. 28. In the Fed Cup semi-finals against Czech Republic, Errani lost to Petra Kvitova 6–4 6–3 and beat Andrea Hlavackova 3–6 6–2 6–2, with Italy losing the tie 4–1.

On May 7, 2012 Errani won the 2012 Budapest Grand Prix, tieing countrywoman Roberta Vinci for the most titles won by an Italian female in a year at three.^[2]

In addition to her singles wins, Errani also won 5 doubles titles with Roberta Vinci including the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open and the 2012 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. She and Vinci also made the finals of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open and the 2012 Australian Open.

Major finals[link]

Grand Slam[link]

Doubles: 1 (0–1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2012	Australian Open	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Svetlana Kuznetsova Vera Zvonareva	7–5, 4–6, 3–6

Premier 5/Premier Mandatory[link]

Doubles: 3 (2–1)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2012	Miami, United States	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Maria Kirilenko Nadia Petrova	6–7(0–7), 6–4, [4–10]
Winner	2012	Madrid, Spain	Clay (blue)	Roberta Vinci	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–1, 3–6, [10–4]
Winner	2012	Rome, Italy	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–2, 7–5

WTA Career Finals[link]

Singles: 8 (5–3)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	July 13, 2008	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Mariya Koryttseva	6–2, 6–3
Winner	2.	July 27, 2008	Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Anabel Medina Garrigues	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	1.	July 19, 2009	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	July 26, 2009	Portorož, Slovenia	Hard	Dinara Safina	7–6(7–5), 1–6, 5–7
Runner-up	3.	February 13, 2011	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Daniela Hantuchová	0–6, 2–6
Winner	3.	March 4, 2012	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Flavia Pennetta	5–7, 7–6(7–2), 6–0
Winner	4.	April 15, 2012	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Dominika Cibulková	6–2, 6–2
Winner	5.	May 5, 2012	Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Elena Vesnina	7–5, 6–4

Doubles: 20 (13–7)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	July 13, 2008	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Nuria Llagostera Vives	Alla Kudryavtseva Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	2–6, 7–6(7–1), [10–4]
Winner	2.	June 19, 2009	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Flavia Pennetta	Michaëlla Krajicek Yanina Wickmayer	6–4, 5–7, [13–11]
Runner-up	1.	February 22, 2010	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Polona Hercog Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	6–2, 1–6, [2–10]
Winner	3.	April 11, 2010	Marbella, Spain	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Maria Kondratieva Yaroslava Shvedova	6–4, 6–2
Winner	4.	April 17, 2010	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Timea Bacsinszky Tathiana Garbin	6–1, 3–6, [10–2]
Winner	5.	July 17, 2010	Palermo, Italy (2)	Clay	Alberta Brianti	Jill Craybas Julia Görges	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	2.	October 23, 2010	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	María José Martínez Sánchez	Gisela Dulko Flavia Pennetta	3–6, 6–2, [6–10]
Winner	6.	January 15, 2011	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Kateryna Bondarenko Līga Dekmeijere	6–3, 7–5
Winner	7.	February 13, 2011	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Sun Shengnan Zheng Jie	3–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Runner-up	3.	April 10, 2011	Marbella, Spain	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Nuria Llagostera Vives Arantxa Parra Santonja	6–3, 4–6, [5–10]
Runner-up	4.	June 12, 2011	Birmingham, Great Britain	Grass	Roberta Vinci	Olga Govortsova Alla Kudryavtseva	6–1, 1–6, [5–10]
Winner	8.	July 16, 2011	Palermo, Italy (3)	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Andrea Hlaváčková Klára Zakopalová	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	5.	August 27, 2011	New Haven, United States	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Chuang Chia-jung Olga Govortsova	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	January 27, 2012	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Svetlana Kuznetsova Vera Zvonareva	7–5, 4–6, 3–6
Winner	9.	February 26, 2012	Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Kimiko Date-Krumm Zhang Shuai	6–2, 7–6(8–6)
Winner	10.	March 4, 2012	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Lourdes Dominguez Lino Arantxa Parra Santonja	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	7.	March 31, 2012	Miami, United States	Hard	Roberta Vinci	Maria Kirilenko Nadia Petrova	6–7(0–7), 6–4, [4–10]
Winner	11.	April 15, 2012	Barcelona, Spain (2)	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Flavia Pennetta Francesca Schiavone	6–0, 6–2
Winner	12.	May 13, 2012	Madrid, Spain	Clay (blue)	Roberta Vinci	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–1, 3–6, [10–4]
Winner	13.	May 20, 2012	Rome, Italy	Clay	Roberta Vinci	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–2, 7–5