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Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, right, holds the winner’s trophy as she poses for photographers with runner up Ashleigh Barty of Australia after their women’s final match at the Sydney International tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia on Sat. Jan. 12. (AP/PTI)[/caption]
Sydney, Jan. 12 (IANS): Fifth-seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic had to dig deep to defeat Australia's Ashleigh Barty for her second Sydney International title on Saturday.
For the second year in a row, Barty had to settle for the runner-up spot, having lost in the 2018 final to former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber of Germany and Australians had to wait for another year for a local women's champion, reports Efe news.
Seeking to culminate her impressive Sydney run, Barty stormed into a 4-0 lead and a few games later she proceeded to seal the set and move a step closer to another upset having defeated world No. 1 Simona Halep and world No. 12 Elise Mertens on her way to the final.
The second set, however, was a different story as Kvitova recovered from her slow start and held serve throughout the second set, as did a crowd-backed Barty.
It was in the ninth game when Kvitova had to serve to stay in the match and she did it in strong fashion without dropping a game for 5-5.
This was a turning point in the match, as the Czech player earned her first service break in the 11th game and then she drew level at a set apiece when she served for the set in the following game.
Barty took a 3-0 lead in a seesaw third set, only to lose the following three games in a row and both players swapped service breaks two more times in the final four games, pushing the set to a tie break.
Kvitova dictated in the tie-break, winning the final four points in a row to claim her second Sydney International title, following her successful campaign in 2015.
