First set: Wozniacki 1-1 Kvitova* (*denotes sever): Kvitova shows some smart skills at the net to make it 30-0. Then she steers a backhand away to make it 40-15. An easy hold to 30.
First set: Wozniacki* 1-0 Kvitova (*denotes sever): The match opens with Caroline Wozniacki on serve. Kvitova’s quickly on the offensive, hitting through the ball with venomous power and earning a couple of break points with some fizzing groundstrokes. She lets Wozniacki off the hook with a couple of errors, though. The game goes to deuce and Wozniacki holds.
Wozniacki hits a return. Photograph: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images
Hello. “Life makes me happy,” Petra Kvitova said after her comprehensive defeat to Elina Svitolina in her opening match at the WTA Finals. It was a positive message from the two-time Wimbledon champion and maintaining that kind of mentality should help her in her quest to bounce back against Caroline Wozniacki today. Delivered from another athlete, that quote might have sounded like loser talk. But given that Kvitova is fortunate merely to be alive after suffering terrible injuries to her left hand during a knife attack in her home in December 2016, it isn’t hard to understand her reactions after losing a tennis match. From the Czech’s perspective, simply making it to the season’s finale is a victory on its own.
Given that she’s in Singapore, though, Kvitova might as well do all she can to make her stay last as long as possible. But this is a tricky assignment. Wozniacki, who also needs to kickstart her tournament after losing her opener to Karolina Pliskova, has also demonstrated resolve during her career. The Dane was once mocked for being a world No1 without a grand slam. Yet Wozniacki had the last laugh when she beat Simona Halep in this year’s Australian Open final and she can also draw on the experience of winning this tournament last year. She might have the edge, especially on a court that’s been playing quite slowly.
