Petra Kvitova, the 12th seed, defeated the 7th seed Elena Rybakina in a grueling tiebreaker to win the Miami Open in her 13th appearance on Saturday.
Rybakina’s 13-match winning run was broken by the 33-year-old Kvitova, who is 10 years older than her opponent, ending her chances of capturing the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells and Miami Open).
The left-handed Kvitova won with determination, tenacious defending, and one spectacular forehand winner on the dead run that electrified the fans in the second set to earn her 30th WTA singles championship and first since 2018 in Madrid.
Kvitova lifted her arms and placed her hands over her head after Rybakina’s long forehand on match point. Throughout the match, she was broken only once. While it was her first final in Miami, it was her 41st participation in a WTA Finals. She will also get into the Top 10.
Kvitova, who won the $1.26 million first prize, said: “I consider it as a positive that I can still play with the greatest. I’m proud that despite my age, I could still prevail in major competitions.
Czech Republic native Kvitova disapproved of Wimbledon’s decision to allow Russian participants this season. The current Wimbledon winner, Rybakina, is from Moscow but plays for Kazakhstan.
The 6-foot Kvitova, a former Wimbledon winner, prevailed 16-14 on her fifth set point in the thrilling first-set tiebreaker. Rybakina, who was suddenly unsteady and had a 7-0 record in tiebreakers in 2023, blasted a forehand long to close the 22-minute match.
According to Kvitova, the tiebreaker was going to determine the whole match. Oh my Goodness, the tiebreaker was the longest of my career. I had the advantage emotionally since I had won the tiebreaker. After the tiebreak, the balls were seen. The balls were large and fluffy.
Rybakina, who triumphed at Indian Wells, acknowledged feeling worn out after the tiebreaker due to the journey. During the next claycourt season, the women’s circuit will soon go to Europe.
After the first set, “I believe generally it wasn’t easy in the second set,” stated Rybakina. “I believe the second gave her more freedom to strike and maybe take a little bit more risk. I believe that I was a little hurried and lacked discipline in the second.
Each player held serve until 4-4 in the 66-minute set, at which point they traded service breaks. In the opening set, Rybakina completed with 10 aces, breaking Madison Keys’ previous record for the most aces in a WTA tournament. Rybakina completed the competition with 69 points after accumulating a total of 12 aces during the match.
Rybakina’s run quickly came to an end as Kvitova broke her in the second game of the second set with a backhand winner on the serve return to go up 2-0.
Maybe things might have turned out differently if the first set had gone my way, Rybakina remarked. “Because I didn’t have discipline because I was physically exhausted.
Sunday’s men’s singles final features Daniil Medvedev vs Jannik Sinner, who just defeated reigning Miami Open winner Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals.
In the finals last month in Rotterdam, Medvedev defeated Sinner after winning 23 of 24 games. The 10th seed from Italy, Sinner, is 0-5 versus Medvedev and just finished a difficult three-set, three-hour battle with Alcaraz.
Austin Krajicek and Nicolas Mahut were defeated by Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the men’s doubles final 7-6 (4), 7-5.