Saturday, 5 July 2014
WIMBLEDON, England — Eugenie Bouchard arrived to Centre Court with cool confidence and a ruthless tennis game to match. Bouchard, a 20-year-old Canadian, had captured the affection of her country and the British tabloids, her looks, play and marketability drawing gawking comparisons to Maria Sharapova.Bouchard now has something else in common with Sharapova. She, too, has been dominated by Petra Kvitova in a Wimbledon final.
Kvitova won her second Wimbledon championship on Saturday with a near-perfect deconstruction of Bouchard. The 6-3, 6-0 victory took only 55 minutes in front of a crowd both stunned and impressed. It was the quickest women’s final in 31 years.
In 2011, Kvitova beat Sharapova in the final, 6-3, 6-4. Other than Venus and Serena Williams, Kvitova is the first two-time winner in women’s singles since 1996, when Steffi Graf won the last of her championships.
“It means everything,” Kvitova said, calling it one of the best matches she has played. “It’s Wimbledon — the tennis history, and Centre Court is great to play on, and I feel at home.”
Kvitova, seeded sixth, surprised Bouchard with her ability to cover the court, extending points that had long been lost by Bouchard’s previous opponents. Her hard, heavy strokes were directed in all the proper angles, as if drawn by a protractor. Her two-handed cross-court backhand, in particular, was routinely out of reach for the quick-footed Bouchard.
“A few shots were incredible, and I couldn’t believe I made it, actually,” Kvitova admitted. Kvitova also mixed speeds and spins, her array of first serves ranging from 85-mile-per-hour gyroscopes to 113-m.p.h. lasers. “She didn’t give me many opportunities to stay in the rallies or do what I do,” Bouchard said.
Kvitova broke Bouchard in her second service game, then won the best point of the match to take a 3-1 first-set lead. Bouchard had Kvitova on the run, pushing the point to Kvitova’s side of the court, before Kvitova rushed to reach a ball and send it for a rousing cross-court winner.
via:- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/sports/tennis/wimbledon-2014-petra-kvitova-routs-eugenie-bouchard-for-title.html?_r=0
