page_title: Petra Kvitová
section_title: 2018: Five WTA titles and re-entry into top 5
hierarchical_section_title: Petra Kvitová / Career / 2018: Five WTA titles and re-entry into top 5
caption_attribution_description: Petra Kvitova at the 2018 Nature Valley Classic 2018 celebrating win over Mihaela Buzarnescu
context_page_description: Petra Kvitová is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová turned professional in 2006 and has won 27 career singles titles, two of which are Grand Slam titles, the Wimbledon Championships in 2011 and in 2014. She also won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Her career-high ranking of world No. 2 was reached on 31 October 2011 and as of 17 August 2020, she is ranked world No. 12 by the Women's Tennis Association. As such, Kvitová is currently the highest-ranked left-handed player in the world and the second highest-ranked Czech, behind Karolína Plíšková.
  Kvitová first gained notice upon defeating then-world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the third round of the 2009 US Open. This was followed by her first Grand Slam semifinal appearance at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships where she came up short to eventual champion Serena Williams. Then, during her breakthrough season in 2011, Kvitová won her first Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships, defeating Maria Sharapova in the final, thus becoming the first player of either gender born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam tournament title.
context_section_description: Kvitová started 2018 in Sydney, unseeded at a Premier event for the first time since the 2010 Kremlin Cup, having been forced to withdraw from Brisbane the week before due to a viral illness. She lost to Camila Giorgi in the second round. She then fell in the opening round of the Australian Open, succumbing to Andrea Petkovic in three sets despite having served for the match twice. However, she bounced back by winning the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy. En route to the final, she saw past the likes of Elena Vesnina, Irina-Camelia Begu, Jeļena Ostapenko and Julia Görges. She then beat Kristina Mladenovic in the final in a dominating performance to win her 21st career title, thus becoming the first left-handed player to win a singles title in Russia. Kvitová then won her singles matches against Viktorija Golubic and Belinda Bencic in the opening round of the Fed Cup where the Czech Republic took on Switzerland, with the Czechs eventually cruising into the last four with the score 3–1, also their tenth consecutive Fed Cup semifinal appearance. The tie also marked the first time since the 2015 final against Russia where Kvitová won a Fed Cup match.
  Kvitová carried her good form into the Qatar Ladies Open, defeating Çağla Büyükakçay, Agnieszka Radwańska and Elina Svitolina to reach the quarterfinals. There, she moved past Görges via a retirement and then overcame world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in three sets to move into the final, where she outlasted fourth seed Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets to capture her 22nd career title, thus guaranteeing her return to the top 10 for the first time since June 2016. In Indian Wells, ninth-seeded Kvitová scrapped past Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in the opener in three sets to record the equal-longest winning streak of her career, 14 wins, dating back to her title run in St. Petersburg a month before. However, she saw that streak expire when she lost to young American wildcard Amanda Anisimova in the following round in straight sets. She then beat Aryna Sabalenka and Sofia Kenin to reach the fourth round in Miami where she was beaten by Ostapenko.
  Kvitová started off her clay court season with her maiden appearance in Charleston but lost her opener to fellow Czech Kristýna Plíšková, marking her first loss to a Czech player since May 2012, having amassed a run of 24 consecutive wins against her compatriots during that period. Then, facing Germany in the Fed Cup semifinals, she notched wins over Görges and Angelique Kerber, thus sending the Czech team into its sixth final in the last eight years. This was followed by a loss to Kerber in the first round of Stuttgart. Kvitová then enacted a 13-match winning streak the remainder of the clay court swing, first, by claiming the title in Prague, her maiden title on home soil, dispatching Tereza Smitková, Natalia Vikhlyantseva, Kateřina Siniaková and Zhang Shuai to reach the final, all without the loss of a set. There, she came back from a set down to beat Mihaela Buzărnescu for her 23rd career title, her first at an International-level tournament since Linz in 2011. She then breezed through to her second crown in two weeks by winning her third title in Madrid, becoming the first woman to do so, by seeing off Lesia Tsurenko, Monica Puig, Anett Kontaveit, Daria Kasatkina and Karolína Plíšková to make the final, where she fought through a tough three-setter to see off Kiki Bertens for her 24th career title. The winning streak ended at the French Open, when she crashed out in the third round to 25th seed Kontaveit in straight sets.
  Starting the grass court season in Birmingham where she was the defending champion, Kvitová saw off the likes of Johanna Konta and Daria Gavrilova to record her fifth quarterfinal appearance of 2018. There, she beat Görges in straight sets for her 50th main draw win on grass. She then moved past Buzarnescu to reach the final where she defeated Magdalena Rybaríková in three sets for her 25th career title, also the second successful title defence of her career after the 2015 Connecticut Open. She then beat Kateryna Bondarenko in he
caption: Kvitova at the 2018 Birmingham Classic
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