Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Petra Kvitova claimed her first title of the year with a three-set win over Sara Errani in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The sixth-seeded Kvitova earned a 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory Saturday for her 10th career title and first since capturing the U.S. Open tune-up in New Haven last summer. She is 10-2 lifetime in finals.
It had been a rough start to 2013 for Kvitova, as the Czech star didn't make it past the second round in any of her first three events. She was a second- round loser in Brisbane, suffered a first-round flameout in Sydney and was dumped in the second round of the Australian Open by Laura Robson.
However, the 2011 Wimbledon champ had bounced back with quarterfinal appearances at the Paris Indoors and Doha before this week's championship run.
"I'm not thinking this is a turning point or a turning tournament for me," said Kvitova. "Yes, it was a lot of great players here and it was hard to beat them, but I'm still just thinking about my game. That's the priority for me."
Errani, this week's fifth seed, fell to 0-2 in finals this year. She was beaten by Mona Barthel for the title at the Paris Indoors to start this month. Saturday's setback dropped the 2012 French Open runner-up to 6-6 lifetime in finals.
Kvitova continued her dominance of Errani, improving to 4-0 all-time. Errani, though, won a set for the first time in the four meetings.
It appeared as though Kvitova would breeze to another win in the series, following up a simple first set with a win in the opener of the second. Errani, though, caught fire and won six straight to force a decisive third.
"I was quite down after the second set," said Kvitova. "I just tried to stay positive and just play."
Kvitova did so, and with the final set knotted at a game apiece, won the final five games.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.