Wimbledon 2011 Day 10: Azarenka v Kvitova

As the matches get further down the line, I appear to be getting to the grounds later and later. This time I was meeting another tennis watching bud, of extremely high esteem, La Froglet! So named because last year we ambled around M&S in Wimbledon, equipping ourselves with 2 La Froglet foil-capped plastic goblets and and a bottle of poppable fizz.

This time we opted for Starbucks Frappucinos, and keepin’ it real getting a REAL bus up to Wimbledon Village and walking down to the grounds!

We had a bit of time for lunch, and then headed up to our seats.



Predicatably people started chuckling at Azarenka’s prolonged howl of a grunt, but in all honesty, she gave Kvitova a tough job for the first five minutes of the match. Vika’s first hold was relatively comfortable but by the third game, Petra had settled down a bit and as finding her range a bit better.





Things took a turn when Kvitova broke Vika at the start of the next set of games. She was hitting her range well and slugging hard from the baseline, outpowering Azarenka from early on. She managed to hold her serve to consolidate the break.





Surprisingly, Vika got broken again and Kvitova held to take the first set 6-1.
People were looking a bit surprised around us – but Kvitova was playing a good power game.
Mind you – between Vika and Petra with their howls and barks, it was like being at the Battersea Dogs Home. But with tennis racquets!




Onto the second – Vika opened the set with much more aggressively play and now Petra seemed to become unglued at the hands of a relentless power game. Lack of range and broken for the gain of just one point, it was truly roles reversed. The next game was a less straightforward hold for Azarenka but nonetheless she led into the first change of ends, 3-0.




For the next few games, both girls held, and Kvitova was beginning to step up her game, painting the lines and generating a lot more pace with it. Azarenka was coming forward well and mixing up her play.




Azarenka was a little tight closing out the second set but did so, taking it into a decider.

First blood went to Petra with an early break but then had some yips on her serve, but hung on to a 3-0 lead.
Azarenka got herself onto the scoreboard, and better yet had some break point chances against Kvitova but couldn’t convert when it counted.
She was taken to deuce on her serve in the next couple of games but managed to hold; Kvitova seemed to have the momentum with a stronger hold on her serve.




With only one game on the board, Azarenka was struggling again to hold serve, but prevailed, but by now Kvitova was just storming through, holding very comfortably again.
Vika was serving at 2-5 to stay in the match, and sadly lost on a Double Fault.
She had made it further than she’d ever done before in a slam, but Kvitova was going to advance one better; semi-finalist last year, and now first time Slam finalist.