Petra Kvitova Wins 2012 New Haven Open

Petra Kvitova, 2012 New Haven Open at Yale winner (click to enlarge)

Ok, if you are a Petra Kvitova fan…like I am…there is good, bad and good/bad from her win at the 2012 New Haven Open at Yale. First, let’s start with the good…the very good. She wins her second hard court event of the summer, overcoming a breathing issue she has had in the past coming to North America. Petra put an exclamation point on her US Open Series win and goes into the US Open with the opportunity to win a lot of bonus money. That’s the good. Here’s the bad. She was somewhat fortunate to get by Maria Kirilenko, 7-6 (9) 7-5. She was broken three times in the first set and fell behind 2-5 in the second set. Obviously, she came back from both. However, if that is Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova on the other side of the net at the US Open, she won’t escape from those kind of stumbles. But wait, here is the good/bad. This is how Petra plays. She is brilliant one moment, awful the next moment and then brilliant again. Maybe she can stumble against Serena and Masha and still come back. I wouldn’t recommend trying, but if anybody can do it, it’s Petra. She looked physically done when she was down 2-5 in the second set…then she ran off 5 straight games. When she won Rogers Cup, she lost 4 straight games to Li Na to drop the second set 2-6. Still, she regrouped and closed out Li Na in the third. Maybe fans of Petra like myself need to get use to her wild swings of momentum. If she can avoid getting upset early, I like Petra, Serena, Vika and Masha at Flushing Meadows.