After eight years, Petra Kvitova finally broke the jinx to seal her first semis in the French Open since 2012. The Czech Republican star saw off German surprise, Laura Siegemund, 6-3, 6-3 to book her return ticket to the last four.
Despite her topsy-turvy affair on clay over the past couple of years, Kvitova believes she’s still the same player.
“I think I’m still same clay player as I was before, but I just think that I find those conditions here and I’m still mentally tough,” she says.
“I mean, I played indoor, outdoor, sun, wind, whatever, rain, whatever happens… I think eight years ago I think it was everything, you know, kind of [the] same, same weather.”
“So I think that’s just the difference. I’m really happy that after even eight years I can be in the semi-final again of a Grand Slam after last year final of Australia.”
“I’m really glad in the last couple of years I improved my results in the Grand Slams, too. So definitely I’m proud of this, and I hope this journey, it’s not ending yet.”
Watch the match highlights below
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When Kvitova reached the semi-finals in Paris in 2012 off the back of her first Wimbledon title less than a year prior, she had reached the semi-finals or better in all but the US Open in that glorious 12-month stretch.
Many wouldn’t have envisaged the extraordinary turns her journey took from then on.
While a second Wimbledon trophy run followed that Roland-Garros semi-final almost two years later, it became the only time in a near seven-year period that she managed to pass a Grand Slam quarter-final.
Kvitova made a remarkable return to Roland-Garros in 2017 five months after a terrifying knife attack in her home.
Almost four years later, she made it to last year’s Australian Open final and now the semi-finals in Paris.
“I got emotional in my last match. It was happy tears, definitely, so I wasn’t sad,” Kvitova says.
“It was just everything back in my mind to see [the] whole box supporting of people who really was there when I needed them.”
“Today, I didn’t get emotional, but it’s gonna happen anyway. When I just look back anyway, those four years were very tough, but very happy too. Of course it’s a mix of emotions what happened.”
Kvitova will face this year’s Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin for a place in a maiden Roland-Garros final.
Sofia Kenin is ready for battle as she faces Kvitova next
Reigning Australian Open winner, Sofia Kenin, dispatched fellow American Danielle Collins 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 on Wednesday to move into her first semi-final in Paris.
The win makes it 15 Grand Slam matches Kenin has won this season and that’s more than any other player on the tour (she’s lost just once at the majors this year).
The No.4 seed has reached at least the fourth round of all three majors that were played. The only other player to do so this year is her next opponent, Petra Kvitova.
“I love winning more than anything,” Kenin tells reporters. “When I win I definitely feel a lot of emotions,” adds the 21-year-old, who produced 38 winners, 16 more than her opponent.
“It’s something that I really enjoy…You always want to have that feeling when you play.”
Sofia Kenin improved her record against fellow Americans in Grand Slam play to 8-1 after seeing off Danielle Collins (her first in four career meetings against Collins). Her only defeat to a countrywoman came at the hands of Madison Keys at the 2019 US Open.
“It’s not easy playing a fellow American,” says Kenin. “I obviously want all of us to do well. Obviously, I knew it was going to be one American in the semi-finals. It’s really great for American tennis to have a good quarter-final match-up.”
Uhmmmm!!!
Kenin is proving to be a dark horse