Petra Kvitova wins Tokyo beating Angelique Kerber in the final, 6-2 0-6 6-3

Petra Kvitova

Every now and then, Petra Kvitova manages to find her groove and this week in Tokyo was certainly one of those weeks.  The final, which I must admit I did not get up at 5am for, featured a scoreline that told a thousand stories.  Petra completely went off her game in the second set, but in the end, she managed to piece it together to claim her second title of the year (after Dubai in February) with a 6-2 0-6 6-3 victory over Angelique Kerber.  I was most impressed by Kvitova's performances in her quarter-final against Svetlana Kuznetsova and semi-final against Venus Williams where she found a great balance in her play.

I have seen quite a few people ask is Petra back, notably Matt Cronin.  There is definitely not enough evidence to suggest that Petra is "back" and I don't really agree with the premise because even when Petra was at her best in 2011, she was always an inconsistent player.  For example when she produced her best ever tennis to win Wimbledon, she went 2-3 W-L record through the summer hard court season.  I think what would be great to see is more consistent performances where she is more in control of her shots.  Unfortunately, I don't think there will ever come a time when Kvitova can produce these types of performances week in, week out because of the nature of her game and the way she goes for her shots.

If you happened to miss the final, I have linked the highlights below, which feature a sensational match point starting at 7:30.  Also a heads up to Kerber, who had her best week of the year.  She has opened up her chances of qualifying for the YEC in Istanbul now and hopefully, she can build on this week where she was more aggressive and it paid dividends for her.  Kvitova should be in Istanbul, which I am happy about because she had to retire last year with an illness and she is great indoors... it could also give us a great chance of that all elusive Petra-Vika match.

Match point at 7:30... stunning