Kvitova prevails after roof closes
MELBOURNE, Australia — Two years ago, Petra Kvitova missed the Australian Open, just weeks after her racket-holding left hand was stabbed by an intruder at her home in the Czech Republic.
Two days from now, back at her best during what she calls her “second career,” Kvitova will play for the championship at Melbourne Park.
Taking control after the court’s retractable roof was closed as the temperature soared toward 100 degrees, the No. 7-seeded Kvitova surged to a 7-6 (2), 6-0 semifinal victory over No. 35 Danielle Collins.
“It means everything,” Kvitova said of reaching her first major final since the December 2016 knife attack that led to hours of surgery on her hand.
Kvitova stretched her winning streak to 11 matches and has a chance to rise to No. 1 in the WTA rankings if she can collect her first Australian Open title to go alongside the two she earned at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.
Against Collins, a two-time NCAA champion at the University of Virginia who was 0-5 at major tournaments until last week, Kvitova was more aggressive throughout, mixing big lefty forehands and welltimed pushes forward to the tune of a 30-9 edge in total winners.
But the key to the outcome might very well have been what happened at 4-4 after 35 minutes of action: That’s when the decision finally was made to close the roof of the 15,000-seat stadium, drawing cheers of approval from broiling spectators.
“I was happier than the fans that the roof closed,” she said afterward. “I like to play indoors. It helped me a little bit.”
She’s made it clear over the years that she is not a huge fan of playing in stifling heat. Not many people truly are, but someone like Collins, a 25-year-old from Florida, might be more used to that sort of thing.
The match was suspended for about five minutes as the roof was closed and when play resumed, it went from being completely even to tilted in Kvitova’s favor. She dominated the tiebreaker and the second set.
The chair umpire was Carlos Ramos, the official who penalized Serena Williams a game in last year’s chaotic U.S. Open final, and Collins got into a couple of testy exchanges with him.
First in the tiebreaker, then in the opening game of the second set, Collins protested that Ramos was applying rules differently than umpires had in her earlier matches. Whether or not there was merit to what she was saying, it seemed clear that the back-and-forths with Ramos didn’t help Collins.
Thousands of spectators at the U.S. Open title match last September booed after Williams confronted Ramos about his rulings.
Williams was cited by Ramos for getting coaching signals; for breaking her racket, which automatically cost her a point because it was her second code violation of the match; and for calling Ramos a “thief,” which cost her a game because it was her third code violation.
Earlier in the day, Novak Djokovic advanced after Kei Nishikori retired in their quarterfinal.
The Japanese eighth seed had played three grueling five-set matches at the tournament and was struggling from the beginning, with Djokovic breaking him in his first service game.
Nishikori then took a medical timeout after the first set, and appeared to have his right thigh treated, but pulled out of the match as Djokovic was leading 6-1, 4-1.
“I love to battle, especially against Kei, we played so many matches throughout our careers,” Djokovic said.
“I hope he can recover, I hope it’s not something that is very serious, that is going to take too long, I wish him a speedy recovery,” the world No. 1 added.
Djokovic will take on a resurgent Lucas Pouille for a place in the final, after the Frenchman defeated Canada’s Milos Raonic 6-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4.