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It is the final stretch of the Wimbledon women’s singles and it has come down to the top two players of the tournament in the finals: the 2004 champion, Maria Sharapova vs 21 year old Czech, Petra Kvitova.
MARIA SHARAPOVA (RUS)[5] vs PETRA KVITOVA(CZE) [8]
Petra Kvitova, the 21 year old Czech southpaw outgunned and outlasted the fourth seeded Victoria Azarenka in the first of ladies’ semi-final in three sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to advance to her first Slam final. While the second semi-final witnessed the 2004 champion breeze into the final, rarely untroubled by her opponent, Dominika Cibulkova. Saturday at the Championships will either be a repeat of 2004 edition or be a spectator to a new, young Champion in the form of Kvitova.
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BREAK DOWN: Sharapova is in the fourth Slam final of her career and has an impressive 3-1 record in the finals of Slams. Seven years after she won the title as a 17 year old, she is back in the finals at the green lawns of SW19 and back with a bang. She has been playing her best tennis lately and with a win at Rome coupled with a semi-final appearance at the Roland Garros, she would be beaming with confidence. She is yet to drop a set in the tournament and has become the hot-favorite with the bookmakers,after the exit of Williams sisters, to lift the coveted trophy for the second time.
The other finalist, Petra Kitova, may have been tagged as a “newcomer” or “underdog” before the experienced Russian, but she proved that her semi-final showing at last year’s Wimbledon is no fluke when she reached the finals here defeating Azarenka. She opened the 2011 season with a title at Brisbane followed by victory in both her Fed Cup matches. Though she lost in the fourth round at the Roland Garros to the eventual champion, Li Na, she was the only one to push her to a tough three setter.
HEAD TO HEAD: The record stands at 1-0 in the favour of the Russian though this will be their first grass court encounter.
MATCH POINT: Though Maria is the overwhelming favorite and has the experience on her side when she takes on Kvitova on Saturday, I will go with Kvitova. This seems to be a bold prediction but the left handed sliced serve from the Czech can trouble the Russian, who has struggled with her own service games.
