Petra Kvitova entered the Nature Valley Classic final as the winner of the largest number of WTA titles this season and now the world number eight has improved her stats by defending the title in Birmingham with a victory over Magdalena Rybarikova. The two-time Wimbledon winner lifted her fifth champion’s trophy and recorded her tour-leading 37th match win in 2018 after overcoming a one set deficit for the first time this week.
Unseeded Rybarikova broke Kvitova at love in the seventh game and capitalized on Kvitova’s 22 unforced errors to win the first set, but the Czech started the second and third set with commanding 3-0 leads and held on to them to lose only three games in those sets together. Even though in the end the WTA players had the same number of unforced errors, the fourth-seeded Kvitova hit many more winners than her opponent and that reflected in her 4-6 6-1 6-2 triumph.
Besides Rybarikova, Kvitova’s road to the Premier-level title on grass included victories over Johanna Konta in the first round, Daria Gavrilova in the second round, fifth seed Julia Goerges in the quarterfinals, and Mihaela Buzarnescu in the semis.
Kvitova’s blue winning apparel: the Nike Summer Zonal Cool Slam Tank, Nike Summer Zonal Cool Smash Skirt and Nike Air Zoom Vapor X Shoes.
