Kvitova claims Wuhan Open title

PetraKvitova

The world number three beat Bouchard in the Wimbledon final in July and she denied the Canadian youngster the second WTA singles title of her fledgling career with a 6-3 6-4 victory to become the first champion in the new hard-court event on Saturday.

Kvitova's third title of the year ensures she is the fourth player, joining Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep, to reach the WTA Finals in Singapore next month.

Sixth seed Bouchard could have reached the WTA Finals by gaining revenge over Kvitova for her Wimbledon defeat, but was unable to achieve that goal and has now been beaten in straight sets in all three games against the Czech.

There was little margin for error in the maiden Wuhan Open final, as third seed Kvitova broke three times to Bouchard's one after the third seed had claimed the upper hand at the start of the first set.

The 20-year-old from Montreal was broken in her first service game, with Kvitova immediately putting her under pressure by taking a 0-30 lead and needed two break points to move into a 2-0 lead.

There were no further opportunities to break in a first set that went with serve and the ruthless Kvitova needed just the one set-point to get her nose in front.

Bouchard needed to make a statement of intent at the start of the second, but instead failed to hold in the first game and Kvitova took command by claiming a second break to lead 5-2.

World number nine Bouchard showed some fight to claim her first break after Kvitova had failed to convert a match point, but the Wimbledon champion made no mistake in serving out the match when she won her third match point as her fine season continues.

Kvitova said: "Congratulations to Genie. We always have great matches, and I wish you the best of luck for Singapore too. And this was the first tournament ever for Wuhan, but it was a great week here.

"Also, everybody wished to have Li Na [who has announced her retirement] here standing with us, but we will remember here with this trophy. I'm just glad she's happy; I hope she's going to be happy for the rest of her life."

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