Kvitova battles past Barty for Sydney International title

Fifth-seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic had to dig deep to defeat Australia's Ashleigh Barty for her second Sydney International title on Saturday. For the second year in a row, Barty had to settle for the runner-up spot, having lost in the 2018 final to former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber of Germany and Australians had to wait for another year for a local women's champion, reports Efe news.

Seeking to culminate her impressive Sydney run, Barty stormed into a 4-0 lead and a few games later she proceeded to seal the set and move a step closer to another upset having defeated world No. 1 Simona Halep and world No. 12 Elise Mertens on her way to the final.

The second set, however, was a different story as Kvitova recovered from her slow start and held serve throughout the second set, as did a crowd-backed Barty. It was in the ninth game when Kvitova had to serve to stay in the match and she did it in strong fashion without dropping a game for 5-5.

This was a turning point in the match, as the Czech player earned her first service break in the 11th game and then she drew level at a set apiece when she served for the set in the following game. Barty took a 3-0 lead in a seesaw third set, only to lose the following three games in a row and both players swapped service breaks two more times in the final four games, pushing the set to a tie break.

Kvitova dictated in the tie-break, winning the final four points in a row to claim her second Sydney International title, following her successful campaign in 2015.

(With inputs from agencies.)