Petra Kvitova beats Venus Williams to advance to Toray Pan Pacific Open final

Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova advanced to the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open after ending the resurgent run of former top-ranked Venus Williams in the semifinal. It was a close fight as it all boiled down to a third set tiebreaker which Kvitova won 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.

“The whole match was very close – it was only about a few points in the end,” Kvitova said after the match. “I had a good start to the tie-break and I think every point in that tie-break was really important.

“Venus was a very tough opponent today. I knew she was playing very well here, and for her it’s great to have this many matches. She missed some tournaments this year and it’s important to stay healthy and play a lot. If she keeps this up she can be one of the players who can win Grand Slams.”

Williams has had a remarkable run at this tournament, eliminating top-seed Victoria Azarenka and 13th-seed Simona Halep of Romania. The American will next compete at China Open in a bid to revive her run this season.

“Coming into tournaments you never know how it’s going to turn out, but I played a lot of great matches here,” Williams said. “Today didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to, but she played very well today, and a lot of it came down to match play too – she was hitting a lot of unreturnable shots in the tie-break.

“As I get into these positions more I’ll start to convert – just a few painful misses today.”

Kvitova will next face Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the final. Kerber eliminated Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the other semifinal match.