Petra Kvitova will face her Fed Cup team mate Lucie Safarova in the final of the Connecticut Open
Saturday 29 August 2015 11:44, UK
Petra Kvitova is through to the Connecticut Open final for the fourth year in a row after a 7-5 6-1 victory over Caroline Wozniacki.
The defending champion will now take on Lucie Safarova in an all-Czech Republic final, the fourth seed having defeated lucky loser Lesia Tsurenko 6-2 7-6 (7-4).
Kvitova won the tournament in 2012 and 2014, and lost to Simona Halep in the 2013 final, but the second seed found herself 5-3 down in the first set to third seed Wozniacki, who has won the event four times herself but not since 2011.
However, Kvitova stormed back to win three games in a row and take a 6-5 lead before winning a lengthy 12th game, which went to deuce seven times and in which Wozniacki saved five set points, only for Kvitova to eventually prevail
And Wozniacki then won just one game in the second set, tying it at 1-1 before Kvitova began to dominate, losing just one point in the last three games.
The Dane had her left knee re-taped ahead of the last game but said it was not a factor in her loss.
"She played very well," said Wozniacki.
"She took the ball extremely early, went for her shots. I had my chances in the first set but I didn't take them.
"In the second set, I didn't play bad. She stepped it up a little bit, didn't really give me any free points. Then I started to try and force it a little bit too much and started making more errors."
Kvitova will now play her Fed Cup team mate after Safarova withstood a second set fightback from Tsurenko, who led 6-5 after trailing 4-1 but eventually lost the set on a tie-break.
Kvitova and Safarova last played in the quarter finals at Wimbledon in 2014, when Kvitova triumphed, but they practice together at the Fed Cup and also practice together when back home.
"We are friends and it's always difficult to play friends for sure, even in the final," said Kvitova.
"It's not always easy but that's how it is in tennis and, when we are on the court, I don't think we are really thinking about the friendship."
Safarova added: "It's going to be a tough finals match, which it should be."
