World Tennis News - Impressive Vinci sees off Kvitova in Poland

Roberta Vinci by Getty Images

Impressive Vinci sees off Kvitova in Poland

Italian Roberta Vinci won the inaugural BNP Paribas Katowice Open in Poland with a 7-6(2), 6-1 defeat of top seed Petra Kvitova.

In one of only two indoor clay tournaments on the WTA tour; the top two seeds clashed in the final after some strong performances during the week.

In a tight opening set Vinci struck first with a break in the third game before former Wimbledon champion Kvitova broke back with a forehand return winner in game six.

The set went to a tie-break which the Italian second seed dominated to take the lead after 69 minutes.

Vinci went from strength to strength and pulled away in the second set. The 30 year-old broke for 2-0 and struck consecutive backhand winners to break Kvitova again for a 5-1 lead.

 Serving for the match the No.2 seed converted her third championship point when Kvitova netted a backhand as Vinci sealed her eighth WTA singles crown.

Stat Attack – Vinci

  • Vinci has won eight of her nine WTA singles finals with the only defeat coming against compatriot Francesca Schiavone at Barcelona in 2010
  • With the victory the Italian moves up to a new career high ranking of 12th in the latest WTA rankings

Stat Attack - Kvitova

  • Since the start of 2011 Kvitova has a 35-5 record indoors

Isner goes one better in Houston

2012 finalist John Isner triumphed at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship with a 6-3, 7-5 win over top seed Nicolas Almagro to lift his first career clay court title

No.5 seed Isner took out reigning champion Juan Monaco in the semi-final and continued that form against Almagro in the final, despite having lost both previous meetings with the Spanish World No.12.

The giant American took the opening set courtesy of two breaks to one and saved the lone break point he faced in the second set.

Isner secured the vital break in the eleventh game and then served out the match to clinch his sixth career ATP World Tour singles title after an hour and 21 minutes of play.

Stat Attack – Isner

  • Before arriving in Houston Isner had a 7-8 record in 2013 compared to 16-6 for the same period in 2012
  • Isner set a tournament record with 64 aces passing Pete Sampras’ best of 60 in 2002

 Stat Attack - Almagro

  • Almagro has a 12-7 record in ATP World Tour finals with all of them coming on clay, this was his first in North America

Robredo back in the winner’s circle in Casablanca

Former World No.5 Tommy Robredo was victorious at the Grand Prix Hassain II in Casablanca with a hard fought 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3 victory over Kevin Anderson.

The unseeded Spaniard had taken out fourth seed Benoit Paire and top seed Stanislas Wawrinka to reach en route to his 18th career singles final and battled strongly against second seeded Anderson.

Having split sets Robredo survived four break points in the decider, including two serving for the match, before completing victory after two hours and 19 minutes.

Stat Attack – Robredo

  • Robredo has now won 10 ATP World Tour singles titles on clay, his last title came over two years ago
  • The Spaniard reached his career high ranking of 5th in August 2006

Stat Attack - Anderson

  • Anderson was appearing in his first career clay court final in his 22nd ATP World Tour tournament on the surface
Share

2014 Stats

  • Men

    • Most singles titles

      7 – Djokovic

    • Singles Champion by seed

      No.1 (18) Nadal (Doha, Rio De Janeiro, Madrid, ROLAND GARROS), Wawrinka (Chennai), Del Potro (Sydney), Fognini (Vina Del Mar), Ferrer (Buenos Aires), Nishikori (Memphis), Dimitrov (Bucharest), Kohlschreiber (Dusseldorf), Djokovic (WIMBLEDON, Beijing, Paris, ATP World Tour Finals), Nishikori (Kuala Lumpar), Berdych (Stockholm), Federer (Basel)
      No.2 (8) Djokovic (Indian Wells, Miami, Rome), Gulbis (Nice), Federer (Halle, Cincinnati), Raonic (Washington), Murray (Shenzhen, Vienna), Cilic (Moscow)
      No.3 (10) Isner (Auckland), Berdych (Rotterdam), Gulbis (Marseille), Wawrinka (Monte Carlo), Lopez (Eastbourne Aegon International), Bautista Agut ('s-Hertogenbosch, Stuttgart), Hewitt (Newport), Federer (Shanghai), Murray (Valencia)
      No.4 (5) Federer (Dubai), Dimitrov (Acapulco, London Aegon Championships), Verdasco (Houston), Nishikori (Barcelona, Tokyo)
      No.5 (2) Cilic (Zagreb), Monfils (Montpellier)
      No.7 (2) Cilic (Delray Beach), Rosol (Winston-Salem)
      No.8 (3) Wawrinka (AUSTRALIAN OPEN), Garcia-Lopez (Casablanca), Goffin (Metz)
      No.13 (1) Tsonga (Toronto)
      No.14 (1) Cilic (US OPEN)
      Unseeded (7) Hewitt (Brisbane), Delbonis (Sao Paulo), Berlocq (Oeiras). Cuevas (Bastad), Mayer (Hamburg), Tomic (Bogota), Goffin (Kitzbuhel)
      Qualifier (1) Klizan (Munich)

    • Lowest ranked singles Champion

      124 - Tomic (Bogota)

    • Fewest games lost en route to title

      16 – Djokovic (ATP World Tour Finals)

    • Most games lost en route to title (non-Grand Slam)

      74 – Klizan (Munich)

    • Longest winning streak (ATP main draw)

      14 - Nishikori, Federer

    • Most Match Wins

      73 – Federer

    • Most Aces

      1,185 - Ivo Karlovic

    • Longest completed match (games)

      71 – Australian Open 1st round Simon bt Brands
      6-7(4), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 16-14
      71 - Wimbledon 2nd round Tsonga bt Querrey
      4-6, 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 6-3, 14-12

    • Shortest completed match (games)

      12 games - 6-0, 6-0 on 2 occasions

    • Match points saved en route to title

      5 - Shenzhen F: Murray bt Robredo 5-7 7-6(9) 6-1
      Murray saved 5 mp 2nd set tie-break
      5 - Shanghai 2nd round: Federer bt Mayer 7-5 3-6 7-6(7)
      Federer saved 2 mp 4-5 3rd set and 3 mp 3rd set tie-break
      5 - Valencia F: Murray bt Robredo 3-6 7-6(7) 7-6(8)
      Murray saved 2 mp 2nd set tie-break and 3 mp 3rd set tie-break
      2 - Rio Open SF: Nadal bt Andujar 2-6 6-3 7-6(10)
      Nadal saved 2 mp 3rd set tie-break
      2 - Atlanta 2nd round: Isner bt Ginepri 4-6 7-6(5) 7-5
      Isner saved 2 mp 4-5 3rd set
      2 - Winston-Salem F: Rosol bt Janowicz 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5
      Rosol saved 2 mp 4-5 3rd set
      1 - Aegon Championships F: Dimitrov bt Lopez 6-7(8) 7-6(1) 7-6(6)
      Dimitrov saved 1 mp 5-6 2nd set

    • Youngest Singles Champion

      Dimitrov (Acapulco) 22 years, 9 months & 14 days

    • Oldest Singles Champion

      Hewitt (Newport) 33 years, 4 months & 19 days

  • Women

    • Most singles titles

      7 - S.Williams

    • Singles Champion by seed

      No.1 (14) Li (Shenzhen), S.Williams (Brisbane, Miami, Rome, Stanford, Cincinnati, US OPEN, WTA Finals), Cibulkova (Acapulco), Suarez Navarro (Oeiras), Ivanovic (Birmingham Aegon Classic), Halep (Bucharest), Wozniacki (Istanbul), Lisicki (Hong Kong), Stosur (Osaka)
      No.2 (6) Ivanovic (Auckland, Monterray), Bouchard (Nurnberg), Svitolina (Baku), Kvitova (New Haven), Ka.Pliskova (Seoul)
      No.3 (5) Zakopalova (Florianopolis), Radwanska (Montreal), Knapp (Tashkent), Ivanovic (Tokyo), Kvitova (Wuhan)
      No.4 (6) Li (AUSTRALIAN OPEN), Makarova (Pattaya City), Cornet (Katowice), Petkovic (Bad Gastein, Sofia), Sharapova (Beijing)
      No.5 (2) Nara (Rio De Janeiro), Garcia (Bogota)
      No.6 (5) Sharapova (Stuttgart), Kvitova (WIMBLEDON), Kuznetsova (Washington), Riske (Tianjin), Pavlyuchenkova (Moscow)
      No.7 (4) Halep (Doha), Vekic (Kuala Lumpar), Sharapova (ROLAND GARROS), Ka.Pliskova (Linz)
      No.8 (1) Sharapova (Madrid)
      No.14 (1) Petkovic (Charleston)
      No.20 (1) Pennetta (Indian Wells)
      Unseeded (9) Pavlyuchenkova (Paris), V.Williams (Dubai), Torro-Flor (Marrakech), Puig (Strasbourg), Keys (Eastbourne Aegon International), Barthel (Bastad), Lucic-Baroni (Quebec City), Niculescu (Ghangzhou), Beck (Luxembourg)
      Qualifier (3) Murgurza (Hobart), Pironkova (Sydney), Vandeweghe ('s-Hertogenbosch)

    • Lowest ranked singles Champion

      107 – Pironkova (Sydney)

    • Fewest games lost en route to title

      15 – Murgurza (Hobart)

    • Most games lost en route to title (non-Grand Slam)

      65 – Vekic (Kuala Lumpar)

    • Longest winning streak

      13 – Li

    • Most Match Wins

      58 – Ivanovic

    • Most Aces (main draw)

      452 - S.Williams

    • Longest completed match (games)

      41 – Wimbledon 1st round - Ka Pliskova bt Knapp
      6-7(4), 6-4, 10-8
      41 - Wimbledon 3rd round - Smitkova bt Jovanovski
      4-6, 7-6(5), 10-8

    • Shortest completed match (games)

      12 games - 6-0, 6-0 on 11 occasions

    • Match points saved en route to title

      1 - Australian Open 3rd round: Li bt Safarova 1-6 7-6(2) 6-3
      Li saved saved 1 mp 5-6 2nd set
      1 - Katowice Final: Cornet bt Giorgi 7-6(3) 5-7 7-5
      Cornet saved 1 mp 4-5 3rd set
      1 - Linz Final: Ka.Pliskova bt Giorgi 6-7(4) 6-3 7-6(4)
      Pliskova saved 1 mp 5-6 3rd set

    • Youngest Singles Champion

      Vekic (Kuala Lumpar) 17 yrs, 9 months & 23 days

    • Oldest Singles Champion

      V.Williams (Dubai) 33 yrs, 8 months & 5 days

Statistics sourced with the help of the ATP and WTA.

The Weekly Player Map

Map showing tournament locations

Catch up with how the Brits are progressing around the world