9 January 2011 | Tennis Queensland

Petra Kvitova is the 2011 Brisbane International singles champion after defeating Andrea Petkovic in straight sets tonight at Pat Rafter Arena.

The stage was set for a battle between world No.32 Petkovic and world No.34 Kvitova, with careers that matched up evenly on paper.

However this was not the case on court tonight.  Although both girls were forced to work hard for each point, as displayed at 4-1 in the first set where the game went to deuce five times, Petkovic had 16 unforced errors compared to Kvitova who had five in the first set.

Kvitova proved to be too strong in the end and completed the match in one hour and 11 minutes, 6-1 6-3.

Kvitova was happy with her performance tonight and is now looking ahead to the Australian Open.

“I played very well here and I had also tough matches. I have a lot of confidence and hopefully I will play well in Melbourne,” said the 20 year old Czech.

“For me it is tough in every round, it is about my confidence so I have to try and be better and better.”

Kvitova defeated No.3 seed Nadia Petrova and No.5 Anastasia Paylyuchenkova on the road to her finals match.

Runner-up Andrea Petkovic, who until tonight had not dropped a set, said she had her chances.

“I had a few chances in the second set where I didn’t serve that well but it just turned out that way and I think if I had have taken my chances in the second set it might have turned – but on the other hand she played really really well and it was tough to get in,” Petkovic said.

“My movement wasn’t that well, I felt heavy on the court… and Petra was playing a fantastic match from the beginning to the end.

“I have already played her four times and have always said she is a really great player … when she’s on fire she can have a great run in any tournament.

“She was hitting winners all over the court… I can only say congratulations on a great match for Petra.”

Petkovic is now heading to Melbourne to compete in the Australian Open where she hopes to do well.  She has become a crowd favourite in Brisbane with her smoking gun and Petkodance.

Both players won their first WTA singles title in 2009 and this was their third singles final appearance on the WTA circuit.

By winning the Brisbane International title, Kvitova’s current world ranking of No.34 is projected to reach a new career high of No.28.

Kvitova has previously had success on Australian soil with a title win at the Moorilla Hobart International in 2009 and was a runner-up at Linz in 2009.

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In the women’s doubles finals tonight Russian pair Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Alisa Kleybanova defeated Polish duo Kladia Jans and Alicja Rosolska 6-3 7-5.

This is their first WTA doubles title.  On the way to this win they defeated the No.1 seeds Anastasia Rodionova and Cara Black.

Play commences tomorrow for the men’s finals at 12 pm.  No.1 seed, Robin Soderling is due to meet defending champion Andy Roddick in what is expected to be a blockbuster