Yes the women's final field of two was decided and the Ovas have it between them. Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic improved from her semi final last year to reach her maiden grand slam tournament final with an enthralling performance against fourth seed Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. Seeded eighth herself, and runner up at the lead up Eastbourne tournament, Petra blasted out of the blocks, firing her left handed serve to great advantage and drilling forehand winners at will, many down the line which thrilled the crowd. The screaming from Vika was as expected, the only screaming from the silent assassin's end was from the brutalized tennis balls which will be charging Petra with willful assault.
The first set was a rout to be fair and 6-1 within the half hour gave no positive sign of things to come for Azarenka. Fickle is defined in some dictionaries as "the game of women's tennis", and so the hard hitting Belarusian began hitting her mark with the ground shot armoury we know she has, while Petra started to loosen her grip on the match with unnecessary heroics where simple rallying was the order of the moment.
The second set featured shot making from both women that exhilarated the crowd yet at times exasperated it for the brazen risk taking involved. Some of the errors were child like. On balance though the entertainment won through as did Vika, showing fine resolve to square the match at one set apiece. Could Petra find the first set momentum once again or was Victoria now going to be famous for reaching the final of Wimbledon in addition to be being David Beckham's wife and the second most populous State of Australia?
The answer arrived swiftly courtesy of the racquet of Petra Kvitova, who pounded countless more winners in a virtuoso display of tennis in the deciding set - it appeared that the second set represented a mere hiatus for the developing Czech star, and as much as Azarenka could throw at her, it was insufficient to prevent the inevitable 6-1 3-6 6-2 semi final win and an encounter on Saturday with either Maria Sharapova or Sabine Lisicki.
Lisicki started as well as Kvitova had, and Maria's double fault horrors from the semi finals at Roland Garros appeared early. 3-0 up and looking capable of running out the first set, Lisicki then became caught up in the Sharapova web spun with a combination of poise, experience, better choice of shot, and better execution.
Despite the regular shaky serving, Maria soon displayed why she remains favorite to take out the title this year. Returning the powerful German serve was always a key to this match and the Russian did it to perfection, breaking back twice and easing to a first set win 6-4.
The occasion then became too much for Lisicki whose confidence when serving deserted her for the rest of the match. This proved a bonus for Maria who herself was not immune from troubles at the delivery line. Even at 5-1, no one was putting money on the match ending soon. Sabine managed to hold and ask Maria if she could kindly do the honours and serve out the match. The tall Russian could not. The priority for Sharapova was to break the Lisicki serve and win the match and not have to try and serve for it again.
With some assistance from the German girl, and some tidy tennis of her own, three time Grand Slam tournament champion Maria Sharapova agreed to a date with destiny, with Petra Kvitova tagging along, on Saturday. 6-4 6-3
Nevertheless a great tournament for Sabine Lisicki.
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