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Petra Kvitova the new Wimbledon champion

Roar Rookie
3rd July, 2011
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Kvitova is the new force in the women’s tennis and this is certainly not the last time she raised the Venus Rosenwater plate above her head. She is only 21 and promises to be the new force to be reckoned with, for many more years to come.

She dismantled the hot-favorite and 2004 champion, Maria Sharapova in straight sets, thus cementing her place among the Czech greats.

Watched by her idol, Martina Navratilova and the 1998 winner Jana Novotna, rarely her face exhibited the trepidation expected of a 21-year old Grand Slam final debutante. Neither did her game.

She took the charge from the very outset of the match. Being broken in the very first game, she broke back immediately with some thundering ground-strokes.

The set went on serve until the Czech got a decisive break in the sixth game thanks to two back-to-back double faults from the racket of the Russian.

There was no looking back for 21 year old as she comfortably wrapped up the set.

The second set began with a break of serve and in a flash, the Czech raced to a 2-0 lead thus winning six games in succession. Sharapova fought and brought back the set to 2-all.

But the breaks of serve continued and at 3-3, the Czech geared her game up to lead 4-3. There was no looking back for Kvitova.

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Though Sharapova held the next service game to love, she could not stop the Czech from lifting the coveted trophy as she banged an ace down the line on her first match point. It seemed her lone ace of the match was reserved for the big point.

It was a perfect blend of power, precision, spin and fluidity that earned the young ace her first Major. She took advantage of her left-handed sliced serve and backhand to torment the Russian. Sharapova was simply clueless as how to tackle the barrage of winners produced from the racket of the Czech.

Though the Russian restricted herself to committing only 6 double faults( compared to 13 in her previous match), she could not prevent her opponent from pouncing on her weak service games with some big returns.

She becomes the second southpaw to lift the coveted Wimbledon crown since Martina Navratilova in 1990 and the first Czech to scale the height since Jana Novotna in 1998.

At 21, she becomes the youngest Slam champion since Ana Ivanovic (Roland Garros, 2008).

Rightly reckoned by John McEnroe,”You’re seeing a really, really special talent,”

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