Petra Kvitova won her first Miami Open title in a dominant straight-set victory over Elena Rybakina.
The match saw a marathon 30-point first-set tie-break before Kvitova went on to seal a 7-6 (16-14) 6-2 win.
Rybakina, who had been on a 13-match winning streak and won the Indian Wells last month, was unable to continue her Sunshine Double bid.
Kvitova’s victory comes with 1,000 ranking points and $1.26m (£1.02m) in prize money, pushing her back into the world’s top 10 for the first time since September 2021.
This is Kvitova’s ninth WTA 1000 title and her biggest victory since Madrid in 2018. The Czech player produced a clinical display against Rybakina, who boasts the most main-draw wins (21) on the WTA Tour this year.
After failing to serve out the opening set at 5-4, Kvitova eventually prevailed in a remarkable 22-minute tie-break, which swung back and forth until she took her fifth set-point opportunity – having faced five herself.
Establishing a 3-0 second-set lead after clinching an early break, Kvitova twice held serve to love and broke Rybakina again to secure the win. “The tie-break, oh my god, it was probably the longest in my career and somehow I managed it,” said Kvitova. “She had so many aces at the beginning of the tie-break that I couldn’t even play. So it was really difficult and amazing.”
