Petra Kvitova Ends Strong Week With Wuhan Title - Mondays with Bob Greene

Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

Petra Kvitova beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-1 6-1 to win the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open in Wuhan, China

Karen Khachanov beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-7 (4) 7-6 (3) 6-3 to win the Chengdu Open in Chengdu, China

Tomas Berdych beat Richard Gasquet 7-6 (5) 6-7 (2) 6-3 to win the Shenzhen Open in Shenzhen, China

Kristyna Pliskova beat Nao Hibino 6-3 2-6 6-3 to win the Tashkent Open in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Norbert Gombos 7-5 4-6 6-3 to win the Open D’Orleans in Orleans, France

Darian King beat Michael Mmoh 7-6 (2) 6-2 to win the Wells Fargo Bank Tiburon Challenger in Tiburon, California, USA

SAYING

“Obviously it’s never easy against Caroline and, well, I was just playing very good tennis tonight and I’m very happy for the win.” – Agnieszka Radwanska, after beating Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 6-2 at the Wuhan Open.

“I can’t believe I won my first title.” – Karen Khachanov, who won the Chengdu Open by beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

“At the end, I think there’s no loser.” – Angelique Kerber, after losing to Petra Kvitova 6-7 (10) 7-5 6-4 in Wuhan, her first loss as the world’s top-ranked player.

“This match was pretty long. It was a great fight by both of us. Even though I felt down physically, I was really ready mentally for every battle that followed that one.” – Petra Kvitova, after needing three hours to outlast Angelique Kerber in the Wuhan Open.

“Every Grand slam was another winner, Kerber two times this year. I feel now (it) is more open. I feel that I have (a) bigger chance.” –Simona Halep, who now feels she has a chance at the number one ranking.

SMASHING SUCCESS

The Petra Kvitova that won Wimbledon twice showed up in Wuhan, China. The Czech left-hander took just 63 minutes to clobber Dominika Cibulkova and win her first title in 13 months. It was the second time Kvitova has won the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, duplicating her feat of 2014. Despite the easy finale, Kvitova earned the crown, outlasting top-ranked Angelique Kerber 6-7 (10) 7-5 6-4 in the third round and fifth-ranked Simona Halep 6-1 6-2 in the semifinals. Against Cibulkova, Kvitova was at her best, winning 17 of the first 18 points of the match and finishing with nine aces. “I think I played great six matches in six days, which is unreal for me to just think about,” Kvitova said. “I’m really proud of myself how I did it, how I handled it physically, how everything went.” Cibulkova went into the final with a two-match winning streak against Kvitova. But she played four three-setters in five matches en route to the title match and fatigued apparently caught up with the 10^th-seeded Slovak, who managed just two winners in the entire match.

SHENZHEN TWO

Tomas Berdych proved he is back after successfully defending his Shenzhen Open title with a three-set win over Richard Gasquet. It was Berdych’s first ATP World Tour title in almost a year. The victorious Czech missed the US Open last month because of appendicitis. In his first tournament back, he reached the semifinals at St. Petersburg. Now he is back in the winner’s circle again. “Five weeks ago I was in the hospital, now I’m sitting her with the trophy,” Berdych said. “Things are changing very quickly. Luckily for me everything is going well, I’m feeling good, sitting here as a winner. I’m just taking all this as a bonus, that I can play and win some matches.” Berdych lost his serve to begin the match before coming back to win the first set. Gasquet staved off two match points in the second set before winning the tiebreak to level the match at a set apiece. “The two match points were very tough,” Berdych said. “He served aces so I couldn’t do anything about that. He started playing very well and deserved to win the second set.” Berdych broke his French opponent in the sixth game of the third set, and then served out the victory.

STIRRING FIGHTBACK

After dropping the first set in a tiebreak, Russian Karen Khachanov rallied to win his first ATP title, stopping Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the final of the inaugural Chengdu Open. “I was just pushing myself to the limit, and I got the second set and then the third,” said the 20-year-old champion, who became the first Russian champion on the ATP World Tour since Mikhail Youzhny won in Valencia, Spain, in October 2013. The 6-foot-6 (1.98m) Khachanov beat three seeded players before reaching his first ATP final. “At this level, all the players are really tough,” Khachanov said. “I was playing against a guy much higher-ranked than me, so I just had to focus on every goal and keep going. You cannot lose focus and be relaxed.” Khachanov finished with 14 aces and finished the week with a tournament-high 48 aces.

SECURES FINALS SPOT

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova are heading to the Singapore for the second straight year. The American-Czech team qualified for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore by winning the Wuhan Open doubles, beating Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova in the final. “Singapore last year was awesome. It’s the year-end championships, the best of the best,” Mattek-Sands said. “Only the best teams get to go, so I think it’s an honor to make it there in the end.” Mattek-Sands and Safarova became the fourth team to qualify for the season finale.

SINGLES CHAMPION

This time Kristyna Pliskova won a tournament title by winning more games than her opponent. It also was her first WTA title as she won the Tashkent Open by beating defending champion Nao Hibino of Japan. The identical sister of sixth-ranked Karolina Pliskova, Kristyna became the Tashkent tournament ranked 100^th in the world. She fired 10 aces in her win over the fourth-seeded Hibino. In September, Kristyna Pliskova won a $125,000 International Tennis Federation event in Dalian, China, when her opponent, Misa Eguchi of Japan, retired with an injury when she was just one game away from victory. The winner had the strange score of 7-5 4-6 2-5 retired.

SET FOR SINGAPORE

Simona Halep is the third singles player to qualify for the season-ending BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore. With a quarterfinal victory over Madison Keys at the Wuhan Open, the 25-year-old Romanian grabbed a spot in the elite eight-player singles field for the third straight year. “It’s amazing to be qualified again for Singapore three years in a row,” Halep said. “It’s a good thing. It gives me confidence.” Others who have qualified for the singles field are world number one Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams.

STOPS FOR MOM

When a distraught mother began calling for her missing child during a match, Rafael Nadal stopped play so the family could be reunited. Nadal was about to serve in a doubles exhibition match when the incident occurred in Manacor, Mallorca. Nadal was teamed with fellow Spaniard Simon Solbas against American John McEnroe and another Spaniard, Carlos Moya. Nadal stopped the game in front of the crowd of 7,000 when the mother began shouting “Clara.” Once the crowd realized what was happening, they joined in the search for the missing child. The tearful girl was soon spotted and bystanders alerted the mother, who ran to her daughter and hugged her tightly. Following the emotional reunion, play resumed.

STOPPED

Angelique Kerber’s remarkable late summer run ended in the third round of the Wuhan Open. Petra Kvitova saved 17 of 22 break points as she edged Kerber 6-7 (10) 7-5 6-4 to hand the German her first loss as the world’s top-ranked player. “It’s always tough to play against Petra,” said Kerber, who committed eight double faults in the match. “I think we both played on a really high level over three hours. … I did everything today. I was fighting until the end.” It was Kvitova’s first win over Kerber since the 2014 Fed Cup final. Since then, the Czech had lost to Kerber three times.

SELLING HOME

Chris Evert has put her Boca Raton, Florida, USA, home up for sale. The asking price is just under USD $6 million. The hacienda-style home has a tennis court and a putting green on more than five acres. Built in 1995, the single-story main house has eight bedrooms and 7½ baths. The property also has two guest houses and a nine-plus-car garage. According to public records, the property last changed hands in 2003 for USD $2.8 million. An inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Evert currently operates a tennis academy in the Boca Raton area and works as a commentator for ESPN.

SOUTH AFRICAN BANNED

A 21-year-old South African player has been banned for life from professional tennis after he was found guilty of match fixing. Joshua Chetty admitted offering money to another player to “underperform” in an International Tennis Federation (ITF) Futures tournament match in South Africa last November. The fellow player reported the incident to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), which investigated. Chetty is currently ranked 1,857^th in the world. “The lifetime ban from all professional tennis applies with immediate effect and means the player is not allowed to compete in or attend any tournament or event organized of sanctioned by the governing bodies of the sport,” the TIU said in a statement.

SAD PAIR

Two Turkish officials were banned for life after they were found guilty of manipulating scores of matches and assisting in fraudulent betting. The International Tennis Federation said Serkan Aslan and Mehmet Ulker had their officiating certifications permanently revoked after being found guilty of ethics violations while working on matches in the lower-tier Futures circuit. The ITF said Ulker delayed inputting scores into a device at a tournament in Turkey in order to give third parties an advantage when placing bets. The federation also found that Aslan and Ulker manipulated scores while officiating matches last year.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Chengdu: Raven Klaason and Rajeev Ram beat Pablo Carreno Busta and Mariusz Fyrstenberg 7-6 (2) 7-5

Orleans: Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor beat Ariel Behar and Andrei Vasilevski 6-2 7-5

Shenzhen: Fabio Fognini and Robert Lindstedt beat Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin 7-6 (4) 6-3

Tashkent: Raluca Olaru and Ipek Soylu beat Demi Schuurs and Renata Voracova 7-5 6-3

Tiburon: Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith beat Quentin Halys and Dennis Novikov 6-1 6-2

Wuhan: Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova beat Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova 6-1 6-4

SURFING

Beijing: www.chinaopen.com.cn/

Tokyo: www.rakutenopen.com/

Mons: www.ethiastrophy.be/fr/accueil

Tashkent: www.tashkentopen.uz/en/