Roberta Vinci entered the BNP Paribas Katowice Open final with two 6-1 6-o victories in the quarters and semis and in the title match against top seed Petra Kvitova she won a close first set before cruising through the second for a 7-6(2) 6-1 triumph. Now it's eight out of nine times that Vinci had won the semifinals and went all the way to the title.

In the first set Kvitova was twice just one game away from taking the set, but Vinci forced the tiebreak, won it handily and raced through the second set to clinch her eighth WTA title and rise from No.13 to No.12 in the rankings.

It was the first edition of the BNP Paribas Katowice Open, one of just two indoor clay events on the calendar, alongside Stuttgart. (photo: Neal Trousdale)

Petra Kvitova and Roberta Vinci, top two seeds, will face each other in the final of the BNP Paribas Katowice Open.

Top seed Petra Kvitova moved into the final with a 6-0 6-4 victory over Alexandra Cadantu that featured many long games. The Czech established a strong 6-0 4-0 lead, as Cadantu wasted 15 game points, but then in the 11th game Cadantu won her serve to love and went on to win three more games to level in the second set, before Kvitova eventually prevailed.

Second seed Roberta Vinci needed just 49 minutes to get past first-time WTA semifinalist Annika Beck 6-1 6-0. The Italian won her previous match, the quarterfinal against Karolina Pliskova, with the same score, losing just the first game of the encounter, and so when she built a 3-0 lead in the first set of the semi it was the 15th game in a row for her.

The Katowice Open final will be the second meeting of Kvitova and Vinci. The first one was at Wimbledon 2011, en route to Kvitova’s one and only Grand Slam title. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Already at the quarterfinal stage of the BNP Paribas Katowice Open seed No.1 Petra Kvitova and seed No.2 Roberta Vinci were the only seeded players left in the draw and they are still in, advancing to the semifinals with straight-set victories.

The world No.13 Vinci opened quarterfinal action, losing just one game, the first of the match, against Karolina Pliskova, the Czech who had taken out sixth seed Kaia Kanepi on her return from injury, but the encounter was more tense than the 6-1 6-0 score suggests. Vinci faced five break points and saved them all, while convering just 6 of the 20 she earned. Read more »

Seed No.1 Petra Kvitova and seed No.2 Roberta Vinci both won their first-round matches in straight sets at the new International-level stop on the WTA Tour, the BNP Paribas Katowice Open in Poland.

Kvitova's best game comes to light on indoor courts and the venue very close to her hometown of Fulnek in the Czech Republic makes this tournament even more suitable for the Wimbledon champion. In the first meeting with the 88th-ranked Misaki Doi, the favorite Kvitova went for a tight 6-4 6-4 victory in her first match on clay this season.

After a great run to the quarterfinals of Miami, Vinci followed Kvitova into the second round of the Katowice Open when her opponent Andrea Hlavackova retired with dizziness while down 2-6 0-2.

Kvitova and Vinci are actually the only seeds left in the draw. No.7 seed Sabine Lisicki lost in the first round today to Alexandra Cadantu 7-5 6-2, while third seed Klara Zakopalova and sixth seed Kaia Kanepi fell in the second round to Maria Elena Camerin and Karolina Pliskova respectively. Earlier at the tournament, No.4 Julia Goerges couldn't finish her opener against Jill Craybas due to dizziness, while No.5 Alize Cornet and No.8 Laura Robson suffered upsets. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

After taking out third seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open, Maria Kirilenko upset fifth seed Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinals, switching from Radwanska’s long rallies to Kvitova’s power game, thus recording two Top 10 victories in a single tournament for the first time in her career and making the biggest semifinal of her life.

The 13th-seeded Kirilenko initially took a 4-2 lead, before falling to Kvitova’s power and winners to trail 4-6 2-4. The Czech then lost her range and gave away the second set by hitting four straight double faults while serving to stay in it and in the third set Kirilenko came out on top to finally win 4-6 6-4 6-3, despite problems with her knee in the first set.

We will have an all-Russian Indian Wells semifinal, as second seed Maria Sharapova later advanced with a tight 7-6(6) 6-2 victory over sixth seed Sara Errani which featured a 82-minute first set. Playing her third tournament of the season, Sharapova is in her third 2013 semifinal. (source: WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)