Kvitova Clinches Final Title of the Year

If you'd told me at the beginning of the year that four different women would win the Slams and Victoria Azarenka would play Petra Kvitova in the final of the WTA Championships I would have laughed. I was convinced after Clijsters' performance in Australia that she would do the Grand Slam this year. Victoria Azarenka was winning some impressive matches but was too emotional and too much of a Sharpova wannabe with that irritating scream. Petra Kvitova was 30+ in the world and very inconsistent. With Clijsters out injured after the Aussie Open, Li Na becoming the first Chinese player to win a Slam (French), Kvitova surprising everyone by playing a sublime tournament to win Wimbledon and then the resurgent Sam Stosur powering to the US Open title, the women's game has had quite a year.


Many people say this is a sign of how terrible women's tennis is. The fact that they don't have one or two stand-out champions somehow belittles everyone else's achievements, they say. If Serena had worn shoes or Kim had not danced at that wedding, the year would have been a different story. I agree with the latter statement - it possibly would have been Kim's year. It certainly felt like it was going to be at the beginning of the season. But things happen and athletes get injured, it's just the way sport goes. Does the absence of two players render this year redundant for tennis' women? Of course not. How outrageously offensive. I think 2011 has been one of the most exciting for women's tennis. I love that so many people won tournaments. I love that we had four different Slam winners. Variety is the spice of life and variety in tennis is priceless. As much as I love The Fed, tennis became a much more exciting place when Nadal came along. The rise of Djoko has been fascinating. The tantalising form of Murray in the past few weeks has added more sauce to the mix. No one wants to see one person winning every competition. That is boring. Women's tennis is poorly compared to men's but after this year I can't see why. They have fantastic rallies, amazing shots, are athletic, quick, emotional, (sometimes) loud, thoroughly captivating and often the matches are longer and more interesting than men's. (Maybe not longer in the Slams but only because of the five to three set ratio.)


Watch women's tennis. Appreciate it. It really is good.


Kvitova pile-drove her way through her opponents at the WTA Championships in Istanbul. Azarenka - apart from an odd lacklustre game against stand-in Bartoli - also streaked her way through the top players in the world. The two tall, leggy blondes, who look remarkably similar, especially in practically matching Nike outfits, had a hell of a final match of the year.


Kvitova raced into a 5-0 lead hitting winners all over the place. It looked like a whitewash was on the cards as Azarenka struggled for form and ideas. Then all of a sudden, as oft happens in sport, it all changed. Kvitova started missing and Azarenka started hitting. She fought her way back to 5-5 but couldn't hold onto Kvitova who finally took the set 7-5. The second set saw Azarenka take control and she levelled the match at one set all. 


Kvitova looked down and almost out at 0-40 in the opening game of the decider but rallied back to win it, break Azarenka in the next and never look back. After nearly two and a half hours of gruelling tennis Kvitova - who is, arguably, unplayable when on her game - won the final title of the year 7-5 4-6 6-3. 


She finishes the year 2nd only to Wozniacki, with the same number of tour wins (6). Azarenka moves up to 3rd, pushing Screamy Shara down to 4th. The new breed of women are well and truly on their way now.


Things to look forward to: Murray-ray winning at the O2 (beating GoNads at some point) and the Masters at the Royal Albert Hall. I love the Masters. Never watched it? Do. It'll make you smile and love tennis all the more.


I'll keep you blogged...