Poland has one of the top female tennis players in the world in Agniezska Radwanska. I'm sure that the organizers of the brand new tournament in Katowice thought their event would be a big draw. Someone forget to tell them about WTA rules regarding top ten players and International level events though and Aga was not eligible to play. Just an aside but I wish the WTA would go back to rating their tournaments as Tier I, Tier II, etc.
Back on topic. Still the field was pretty good with WTA #8 Petra Kvitova as the top seed. Looking at the players entered I think most people thought this tournament would be a walk in the park for Kvitova, a good tune up for her going into Fed Cup and then into the clay court season. On her way to the final Kvitova fed a bagel to the #117 ranked Romanian Alexandra Cadantu in the semi final. She would face Roberta Vinci in the Final. Vinci is better known for her doubles play with countrywoman Sara Errani at the moment but she earned her way to the Final defeating nineteen year old Annika Beck, who is ranked #74 one and love.
Vinci, at 5'4", was facing a much taller Kvitova who stands 6' tall and at 23 is 7 years younger.
So why is Roberta Vinci holding the winners trophy?
Partly because Kvitova showed up in the shape you see in the picture.
I didn't see the first set which was decided in a tiebreak and won by Vinci 7-6(2). I did see the entire second set though and what I saw was Vinci standing aside and letting a slow and out of shape Kvitova defeat herself.
Fans of Venus Williams are familiar with her second set walkabouts where she seems to have been distracted by who knows what but who somehow always manages to win in three sets. It seems Petra Kvitova has the same bad habit but unlike Venus today she didn't have a cushion and unable to hit a return inside the lines gave Vinci the match.
Not that Roberta Vinci was the image of fitness herself kiddies. She just played a better clay court game and gave her Fed Cup team a shot of confidence for next weeks battle against the Czech Republic, a team that features Kvitova as it's star.
If Petra doesn't improve her conditioning it's highly unlikely that she'll fulfill the potential many saw in her after her Wimbledon win and that is a shame for the women's tour.
The doubles crown was won by Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino and Lourdes Dominguez Lino.
There wasn't a lot of fan interest in this tournament that I could see. It wasn't that the WTA didn't try it's just that, well, no one seemed to care about the event. There's a lot of conversation about why Kvitova managed to lose an event where she was the class of the field, but that's it.
Maybe this tournament needs a different spot in the calendar?
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