Petra Kvitova has become the fourth woman to qualify for the WTA Year-End Championships in Singapore. She will be joining Simona Halep, Maria Sharapova, and Garbine Muguruza as the qualified finalists so far. If Serena Williams chose to play, withdrew from the remaining events for the year, it would have made the Czech lefty the fifth women to qualify, leaving only three spots left.

Kvitova’s Season To Date

The two-time Wimbledon champion started off her season in Shenzhen and made the semifinals before losing to Timea Bacsinszky. She followed that up by heading to Sydney where she was runner-up to her countrywoman, Karolina Pliskova. Kvitova was looking to ride that early wave of strong results heading into the Australian Open but was upset by Madison Keys in the third round.

We fast forward to the clay season where the Czech lefty lifted up her first title of the season at the Mutua Madrid Open over Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the tournament, she also defeated Serena in straight sets. She then continued her clay swing in Rome where she would lose to eventual finalist Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets in the quarterfinals. Just like the Australian Open, the lefty was looking for a deep run at the French because of the strong results she earned at previous tournaments. Once again, she fell short of expectations, despite clay being her worst surface, and was knocked out in the fourth round to Bacsinszky.

At Wimbledon, she was the defending champion and decided to come into the tournament without playing a warm-up grass event. Her main focus was to defend her title at the All England Club. She fell well short of that losing to Jelena Jankovic in the third round.

During the American hard court swing, we found out that the Czech was diagnosed with mono. The sickness clearly hampered her play as she looked slow and lethargic on the courts. Despite that, she provided her best showing at a Grand Slam with a quarterfinals showing at the US Open where she lost to eventual champion Flavia Pennetta.

The last two tournaments she has played in are in Wuhan and Beijing. She did not have the best results losing early in both, but she has achieved her goal in qualifying for Singapore.

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About the author
Noel John Alberto
Filipino-American sports journalist from Toms River, NJ. UMBC Graduate and aspiring physical therapist. Tennis editor and multi-sport coordinator for VAVEL USA. Writer for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Serie A sections of VAVEL UK. Sports aficionado. Host of the On The Line tennis podcast.