Petra Kvitova has won the 2014 Wimbledon Ladies singles title. The Czech sixth seed beat 13th seed Genie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0 in 55 minutes in a match that will go down as one of the finest performances in Wimbledon history.
Kvitova’s eyes were as big on the prize as the footballs she was seeing as she belted the ball as cleanly as ever seen on the lawns of SW19. The Czech broke her opponent, playing in her first slam final, at 1-1 in the opening set, a forehand return cross court clipping the line.
Though Bouchard threatened the Kvitova serve in the next game, the Czech had too much variety with the spins and speeds of her deliveries. It was a day a player dreams of as everything was working for her, a backhand passing shot on the run at 2-1 letting Bouchard know that she would not get into the match by exploiting her weaknesses.
That point pushed Kvitova on as she rushed Bouchard, hitting winners and being aggressive on the return. A double fault from Bouchard saw her face two break points. Bouchard got out of the hole, but found herself serving again in no time as Kvitova raced through her own service game to lead 4-2.
A rattled Bouchard double faulted to go down 15-40 as the pressure of an aggressive Kvitova camped inside the baseline mounted. Kvitova then broke with a forehand winner taken on the rise from the baseline.
With Kvitova serving for the set at 5-2, the weapons and tactics Bouchard was expected to employ with some success finally paid of. Bouchard’s aggressive return and a backhand down the line winner brought her to 15-40. She then broke as she forced an error from an on the run Kvitova.
The fightback though was short-lived as Kvitova broke to take the set with a forehand winner of a second serve.
A set up, Kvitova won her opening service game to love and then broke again for 2-0 as she hit hard and flat on her backhand to Bouchard’s feet on the baseline forcing the error on the second strike.
The set looked to settle into a rout as Kvitova led 40-15 only to be taken to deuce. A service winner and an ace later and the Czech had the game, the 3-0 lead assured. The sixth seed fistpumped to her box, a stumble avoided, the road to the title as clear as her strategy.
Another forehand winner on break point, the ball flying as fast from the Kvitova racket as Bouchard’s first slam final was slipping away from her. Or being dragged from her so ferocious was Kvitova’s grip on proceedings.
Murmurs from the crowd, perhaps uncomfortable that the player most talked about before the match was muted in the match itself, were silenced as a hurrying Kvitova pounded down another serve regardless as she raced through another service game to love, every point ended on a winner.
0-5 down and serving, Bouchard did her best to stay in the match, moving forward to take the game to Kvitova, but she hit a forehand in the net to go championship point down.
Kvitova though did not want the match gifted to her after playing so spectacularly. She engaged in something approaching a rally with Bouchard before striking a backhand crosscourt winner with the clarity and punch of a woman freed from the fears that gripped her after her 2011 win, a woman ready to get the Venus Rosewater dish once more in her hands and to take all the ups and downs that might follow with the heart of a champion.
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