Oct 1, 2016
Kvitova tops Cibulkova, wins Wuhan Open
Petra Kvitova overpowered Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-1 Saturday to win the Wuhan Open for her first title of the year.
The Canadian Press
WUHAN, China — Petra Kvitova overpowered Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-1 Saturday to win the Wuhan Open for her first title of the year.
The 14th-seeded Kvitova, who won the inaugural tournament in 2014, hit nine aces and converted six of seven break points to post her fifth win over a Top 20 player this week.
"Wuhan, it's really one of my favourite cities," said Kvitova, who defeated top-ranked Angelique Kerber in the third round. "It was a great crowd as well, there were some incredible matches for me and I'm really happy that I can stand here as a champion again."
Kvitova won 17 of the first 18 points. Cibulkova managed a break in the fifth game of the first set but it didn't change the momentum and the second set was just as one-sided.
With the win, the Czech will move up to No. 11 in the rankings after coming into the tournament at No. 16, which was her lowest ranking since May 2011.
Kvitova, who has won at least one tournament every year since 2011, improved to 5-2 against her 10th-ranked Slovak opponent. It was the first meeting between the two players in more than two years.
Fifth-seeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova defeated third-seeded Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova 6-1, 6-4 to win the doubles title.