Petra Kvitova downs Sorana Cirstea in straight sets to set up Miami Open final against Elena Rybakina
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Updated 31/03/2023 at 22:00 GMT
At 5-2 down in the first set, Petra Kvitova looked in real trouble against Sorana Cirstea in their Miami Open semi-final. But she won seven games in a row to wrestle back control of the match, eventually triumphing in straight sets to make her first final of the season, and her first in Miami. She will now face the in-form Elena Rybakina for the title.
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Petra Kvitova had to recover from a big first-set deficit to come through her semi-final with Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-4 and set up a Miami Open final against Elena Rybakina.
It will be Kvitova's first final of the season, and her first in Miami in her career.
And though Rybakina is one of the form players on the WTA Tour - reaching the final of the Australian Open and winning in Indian Wells - Kvitova said afterwards that she can go into the match with a view to springing a surprise.
"I feel great to be in the final, that's the most important thing for me," Kvitova told Amazon Prime. "We have head-to-head 1-1, so we'll see how we're going to go tomorrow [in Saturday's final].
"Elena is playing amazing, I can just surprise right? Who knows."
In a battle of the experienced heads - Cirstea 32 and Kvitova 33 - it was the Romanian who made the first move in the opening set.
The pair matched each other on the scoreline until game six, when Cirstea took her fourth break point to take a 5-2 lead, and a chokehold on proceedings.
However, things completely turned around from that point.
First Kvitova held for 5-3, then she broke as Cirstea served for the set to take things back level at 5-5.
And cruelly for the Romanian, she then didn't win a single point in the next two games as Kvitova ruthlessly grabbed back the momentum, the Czech serving it out at the death to steal the set 7-5.
Things went from bad to worse for Cirstea at the start of the second as she was broken again, meaning she was now on a run of losing seven straight games.
Fortunately for her, she stopped the rot to make it 2-1, but only after saving two break points as Kvitova seemed to be eyeing a quick finish.
Kvitova, despite being taken to deuce in game six, accelerated to 4-2 ahead as Cirstea continued to struggle with the weight and depth of her opponent's groundstrokes.
But she held for 4-3 to keep it competitive - now could she make any inroads as the match slipped from her grasp?
Not in the next game, as a wayward backhand from Cirstea on game point saw Kvitova continue her dominance on serve, but the Romanian held once more to give herself one last chance at breaking.
However Kvitova was unmoved on serve and a wide, unreturnable delivery to the ad court sealed her victory, with an emotional glance to her box revealing what it meant to her.
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