Petra Kvitova to take on qualifier Garcia for Cincinnati title

Petra Kvitova overcame a sluggish start and 10 double faults to beat Madison Keys 6-7(6) 6-4 6-3 on Saturday and advance to the final of the Cincinnati Open, where she will face Caroline Garcia, the first qualifier to reach the final of a WTA 1000 tournament. In a match twice hit by lengthy rain delays, Garcia was able to keep her focus to see off sixth-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 6-2 4-6 6-1. After battling her way through qualifying, the resurgent Frenchwoman has notched wins over three top 10 world-ranked opponents, Maria Sakkari (4), Sabalenka (7) and Jessica Pegula (8).

In the day's first match on a muggy Centre Court, a misfiring Kvitova had trouble getting into gear. But she produced some of her best tennis when it mattered by breaking the American favourite to start the third set and again to clinch a spot in Sunday's final. It will mark the 40th WTA Tour singles final for the 32-year-old Czech but first in Cincinnati.

"I expected it to be tough but I didn't expect it to be that tough," said Kvitova, who will return to the top 20 of the world rankings on Monday. "I don't really care about the ranking." "Being in the final is of course more important, that is why I play tennis to be in the final and fight for the trophy." Keys, the Cincinnati champion in 2019, got off to a quick start and was gifted an early break when Kvitova double faulted three times. Thanks to the service break, Keys got in front 2-1.

But Kvitova slowly got her serve and groundstrokes under control and broke back to level at 3-3 as the set drifted to a tiebreak which Keys claimed 8-6. In the second, Kvitova took command by charging ahead 5-2 but then struggled to close it out as Keys fought back to 5-4. Serving for the set a second time,