Stab victim Petra books first final since attack
PET RA KVIT OVA has qualified for her first final since her career-threatening stabbing.
The Czech will compete in the final of today’s Aegon Classic in Birmingham after last-four opponent Lucie Safarova retired.
Two- time Wimbledon winner Kvitova was stabbed at her home in December and could have lost her career, escaping instead with hand injuries.
This is just her second tournament since her return and she can now crown it with a trophy after Safarova withdrew, with Kvitova leading 6-1 1-0.
“I am enjoying playing again,” she said. “I couldn’t play for five or six months and I missed it. It wasn’t my choice to have a break but I always try to see positive things.
“I’m trying to enjoy tennis more and seeing things from a different angle.”
The seventh seed will face Ashleigh Barty today after she took the biggest scalp of her career in her semi-final.
The world No. 77 lost the first set to the sixth- seeded Garbine Muguruza but fired back to win 3-6 6-4 6-4.
At the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club, London, fourth seed Marin Cilic dropped serve for the first time all week but recovered to stop left- hander Gilles Muller in the semi- final, winning 6-3 5-7 6-4.
Neither player had surrendered serve en route to the last four so it was a surprise when Cilic broke Muller in the fifth game before wrapping up the opening set.
Cilic then failed to convert his opportunities in the second set, and one lapse at 5- 6 blotted his copybook to allow Muller to snatch the second set.
It was nothing more than a blip as Croatian Cilic broke in the seventh game of the decider and powered home to victory, sealing it with a second- serve ace on match point.
“Today’s match was a really high level,” Cilic, coached by former grasscourt specialist Jonas Bjorkman, said.
“I played really well throughout and Gilles was pushing me to the limits.
“I’ve felt really good on serve all week and today I was mixing it up and playing smart.”
Defeat ended 34- year- old Muller’s grasscourt winning streak on seven. However, the Luxembourg player will deservedly head to Wimbledon next week in high spirits after another impressive week on the lawns, following his title run in Den Bosch.
Cilic, Queen’s winner in 2012, will play Feliciano Lopez in the final after the Spaniard beat Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 3-6 6-2 in the other semi-final.