Kvitova cruises past Cibulkova to win Wuhan Open (updated)

Petra Kvitova won her first WTA title here on Saturday as she snatched a dominant victory over Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Wuhan Open.

Sixty-two minutes was all it took for Petra Kvitova to end her 13-month title drought, overpowering Romania's Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-1 to win the Wuhan Open.

The Czech produced the latest in a series of brilliant performances in Wuhan, piercing Cibulkova's defenses at will to romp home and recapture the trophy she also won in 2014.

"Wuhan, it's really one of my favorite cities. It was a great crowd all well, there were some incredible matches for me and I'm really happy that I can stand here as a champion again," Kvitova said.

In the opening game, Kvitova set out her stall, firing down a sequence of perfectly placed deliveries to hold serve with barely a minute on the clock. She would finish with nine aces, but the rest of her game was equally impressive. In the next game, a brilliant stretching backhand pass helped her to a break to love.

The Czech would end up winning 17 of the first 18 points. And when Cibulkova did momentarily halt her progress with a break in the fifth game, it merely delayed the inevitable Kvitova dusting herself down to wrap up the set.

The second set was just as one-sided, as Cibulkova, appearing in just the second Premier five final of her career, battled in vain to avoid a rout.

While neither Cibulkova nor semifinal opponent Simona Halep were able to compete with an on-song Kvitova, the path back to the trophy was far from straightforward. In the third round, the Czech came up against new world No. 1 Angelique Kerber in a match that went well beyond the three-hour mark and will go down as one of the best in recent memory on tour.

"This match was pretty long! It was a great fight by both of us - even though I felt down physically, I was really ready mentally for every battle that followed that one."

Kvitova scored a total of 57 points compared to Cibulkova's 28 and hit nine aces. Cibulkova had to wait until the fifth game to see her second point after grabbing the opening point of the match in the first set.

Cibulkova broke Kvitova's serve in the fifth game thanks to two double faults from the Czech and that's the only game under her name in the set. The Slovak managed to clinch the third game in her serves and that's all the resistances she could do.

Kvitova will move up to No. 11 in the WTA rankings after coming into the tournament at No. 16, which was her lowest ranking since May 2011. She will also move from No. 21 to No. 12 in the "Road to Singapore".

For Cibulkova, she's assured of a new career-high ranking on Monday. By making the final she will be No. 8 in WTA rankings and will also be No. 7 in the Road to Singapore. Endit