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Sports

Kvitova thumps Kuznetsova for Madrid title

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Madrid, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Petra Kvitova captured her second title of 2015 with a straight-set rout of Svetlana Kuznetsova in Saturday's final at the Madrid Open.

Kvitova, the 2011 Madrid champ, needed just 66 minutes to dispatch the Russian veteran in a 6-1, 6-2 pounding at the Magic Box. She earned her 16th career title and first since a victory at the Australian Open tune-up in Sydney.

"I think I'm probably the kind of person who likes to play these kinds of big matches, to play the finals, the big tournaments, the Grand Slams, playing on the big stadiums," said Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion. "Finals are why we're all playing tennis. We want to win the big tournaments and see these beautiful trophies."

The 25-year-old Czech star had struggled since that title in January. She lost to American Madison Keys in the third round at the Australian Open and hadn't won more than one match in any of her three subsequent WTA events, including a loss to Madison Brengle in her Stuttgart opener last month.

This week also started with a bit of a struggle, as Kvitova needed three sets to win each of her first two matches. She then found her form, including a resounding 6-2, 6-3 semifinal victory over Serena Williams on Friday.

Kuznetsova was also coming off an upset in the semis, beating fellow Russian Maria Sharapova to reach her first final of the year.

However, only Kvitova carried her momentum into Saturday and was never really challenged. She was dominant on serve, winning 33-of-42 points while never facing a break point.

The fourth seed also converted four of her 11 break-point opportunities and beat Kuznetsova for the fourth time in five all-time meetings. Kuznetsova had won the most recent matchup, last year in the third round at the French Open.

"I knew that I had to play aggressively because Svetlana's a great player on clay, and the last time we played in Paris, I lost to her when we played the normal rallies," Kvitova added. "So I knew that I had to make a lot of winners and I knew I that had to go for the volley if I got the opportunity."

Kvitova improved to 16-5 all-time in WTA finals, while Kuznetsova fell to 14-21 in title matches.