TOKYO, Japan: Petra Kvitova ended the run of a resurgent Venus Williams at the Pan Pacific Open yesterday, winning a high-octane shootout 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 to reach the final of the $2.3m event, where she will face fellow “lefty” tennis player Angelique Kerber.
The German Kerber had too much firepower for Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, the fifth seed beating the former world number one 6-2, 7-6 to reach her seventh career final.
Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic, repelled everything Williams threw at her in a pulsating Tokyo semi-final, the seventh seed holding her nerve to tear through the deciding tiebreak 7-2 and complete victory in a match that lasted for two hours, 24 minutes.
“That was definitely one of my best matches of the season,” Kvitova said after playing her third match in two days.
The Czech tennis player added: “I knew she would attack and I had a little trouble so I just tried to do the same to her.” AFP
