Petra Kvitova and Elise Mertens win WTA titles

By Reuters

Image: Petra Kvitova claimed another title to continue her excellent 2018 with victory at the Prague Open

Petra Kvitova fought back from a set down to beat Mihaela Buzarnescu in the Prague Open final and claim her third title of the year.

The two-time Wimbledon champion and home favourite missed the Prague event last year due to a hand injury, but she returned to add her home tournament title to victories in Petersburg and Doha this season.

Kvitova's 4-6 6-2 6-3 success meant Romanian Buzarnescu fell to a second WTA final defeat, having lost at the Hobart International to Belgian Elise Mertens - who triumphed at the WTA event in Morocco.

Kvitova, seeded second, got off to a flying start and took a 4-1 lead in the opening set but Buzarnescu battled back to break Kvitova's dominance, winning the next five games to clinch the set.

The 28-year-old left-hander roared back in front of a raucous home crowd, using her powerful forehand to pin Buzarnescu back in the second set and broke the Romanian's serve three times to force a decider where she triumphed.

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Image: Belgium's Elise Mertens won the Rabat Grand Prix

Belgium's Elise Mertens extended her winning streak to 12 matches by beating Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2 7-6 in the final of the Rabat Grand Prix and, like Kvitova, now has three titles for the year.

The 22-year-old took control from the start as Tomljanovic struggled to keep up with the fierce Belgian's creative and powerful onslaught of shots and was brushed aside in the first set.

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Mertens' blazing form helped her to take a 5-3 lead in the second set before her 24-year-old opponent fought back to force a tie break.

The Belgian maintained her composure to comfortably seal her third title of the year, having also won the Hobart and Lugano tournaments.

Tomljanovic's cause was undone as she racked up 46 unforced errors in an effort to find the lines against the in-form Mertens.

Both of this weekend's champions are back in action at the Madrid Open, which got underway on Saturday.

Coverage of the ATP Madrid Open gets under way on Sky Sports Arena on Monday, May 7 from 11am.

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