page_title: Petra Kvitová
section_title: 2011: First Grand Slam and WTA Tour Championships titles
hierarchical_section_title: Petra Kvitová / Career / 2011: First Grand Slam and WTA Tour Championships titles
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Česká tenistka Petra Kvitová s pohárem pro vítězky Fed Cupu 2011
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 2011 by winning her second career title at the Brisbane International, defeating the likes of third seed Nadia Petrova and fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to the final, where she beat Andrea Petkovic for the title. With the win, she achieved the ranking of world No. 28. Kvitová was the 25th seed at the Australian Open, and made her first quarterfinal here, having defeated Sally Peers, Anna Chakvetadze, fifth seed Samantha Stosur and 22nd seed Flavia Pennetta en route, where she lost to second seed Vera Zvonareva in straight sets. Her strong run there ensured her a top 20 debut in the rankings, at world No. 18. Kvitová then beat Slovaks Dominika Cibulková and Daniela Hantuchová in the Fed Cup opening round to put the Czech team in the semifinals.
  At the Open GDF Suez, Kvitová won her second title of the year by defeating newly crowned world No. 1 and newly crowned Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters in the final in straight sets. Once again, Kvitová's ranking rose to a new high of world No. 14. After that, she suffered an early loss to Ayumi Morita in Dubai. She then lost her next two opening matches to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in Indian Wells, and to Kristina Barrois at an ITF tournament in Nassau. At the Miami Open, Kvitová defeated Varvara Lepchenko in the second round but then lost her next match to Pavlyuchenkova. In the Fed Cup semifinals against Belgium, she led the Czech team into the final, with wins over Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens.
  Kvitová kicked off her clay court season in Madrid, where she won her third title of the year and her first Premier Mandatory-level title. She beat Alexandra Dulgheru, Chanelle Scheepers and second seed Zvonareva to reach the last eight. She then overcame Cibulková and Li Na to reach the final where she defeated Victoria Azarenka to claim the title. She made her top 10 debut after the tournament at world No. 10. The following week, because Jelena Janković failed to defend her points in Rome, Kvitová moved one place up to No. 9. She played another ITF tournament at her home country in Prague that week, losing in the final to Magdaléna Rybáriková. Kvitová was the ninth seed at the French Open. She defeated Gréta Arn, Zheng Jie, and Vania King in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion Li Na in the fourth round, despite having led 3–0 in the deciding set.
  Kvitová played a warm-up tournament for Wimbledon at Eastbourne and reached the final where she lost to Marion Bartoli in three sets. Kvitová then won her first Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships. Seeded eighth, she defeated Alexa Glatch, Anne Keothavong, Roberta Vinci and Wickmayer en route to the quarterfinals. She then saw off Tsvetana Pironkova and fourth seed Azarenka to reach her first Grand Slam tournament final, where she beat fifth seed Maria Sharapova in straight sets. Thus, she became the first left-handed female player to win the singles title since Martina Navratilova in 1990, the first player of either gender born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam tournament title and the first Czech player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Jana Novotná won Wimbledon in 1998.
  Following Wimbledon, she kicked off her US Open series campaign at the Canadian Open where lost to Petkovic in the third round. The following week at the Cincinnati Open, she lost to Petkovic in the same round once more. She was then upset by Dulgheru in the opening round of the US Open, thus becoming the first Grand Slam tournament champion to lose in the first round of the following Grand Slam without winning a set.
  Kvitová's form then improved in Tokyo, where she reached the semifinals, losing to Zvonareva. She cracked the top 5 rankings, at world No. 5, after Tokyo and also qualified for the WTA Tour Championships for the first time in her career. However, the following week, she lost in the first round of the China Open to Sofia Arvidsson in three sets. Then, at the Linz Open, she defeated Rebecca Marino, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Hantuchová and Janković on the way to the final, where she be
caption: Kvitová, in 2011, in Moscow with the Fed Cup trophy
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