The final of the 2014 China Open will be contested on Sunday morning (NB 9am UK time) between Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova.  Kvitova was first into the final with a 6-3 5-7 6-2 victory over Sam Stosur.  At the start of the third set, this result did not look likely.  Going into the third set, Stosur was in control of the match.  She was marching through her service games in the second set as Petra needed a MTO where she appeared to be struggling with a virus.  The story of the match though was Stosur’s break point conversion rate; Stosur converted on just three out of 16 opportunities as she failed to take advantage of a *0-40 on the Kvitova serve at 1-0* up in the third set.  The rest was history as Petra rolled through six of the next seven games, displaying some peak Petra form as she booked her spot in yet another final.

In the much anticipated second semi-final, Maria Sharapova produced an identical scoreline to her quarter-final win over Svetlana Kuznetsova as she gained revenge against Ana Ivanovic with a 6-0 6-4 victory.  Ivanovic was very flat in the first set and didn’t look up for this one.  The highlight of the match was a dramatic final game that saw six deuces, Sharapova save four break points and then finally convert on a fourth match point after a flurry of aces and double faults.  I followed the end of the match on live scores.  It looked fun.

This will be the first time Kvitova and Sharapova have played each other since Miami earlier this year.  Sharapova won that match, 7-5 6-1.  Since the 2011 Wimbledon final, Sharapova has won four consecutive matches (excluding the match in Tokyo where Maria was forced to retire).  The best match they played was in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2012.  I firmly believe that was a match in which Kvitova lost a great deal of confidence.  Sharapova won, 6-2 3-6 6-4, barely hanging on in the final set which Kvitova dominated, before turning the screw in the final game as Petra served to stay in the match with scoreboard pressure.

I’d love Petra to win… I hate to say it but I think Maria will win this.  She’s playing her best tennis since Roland Garros and has owned Petra in the H2H, which is not an easy thing to do.  Furthermore, Petra looked to be struggling in her semi-final match after two long weeks, having gone all the way in Wuhan.  Maria for the win, but i’ll be cheering for Petra!!!!!

Prediction: Sharapova d. Kvitova in 2 tight sets

No poll today since i’m so late with this preview.  Sometimes having a social life is more important than blogging! If you’ve got any thoughts about this final, as always, i’d love to hear from you 🙂