Petra Kvitova beat Li Na 75 26 63 to win the 2012 Rogers Cup title in Montreal.
Kvitova, seeded fifth, struggled at the start, hitting several balls long. She fell behind 3-1 before she found the range with her forehand and charged back to take the lead.
She saved three break points to take a 6-5 lead, then won the set on her fifth break point.
Li won 16 points in a row to lead 4-0 in the second set and kept the difference to send the encounter into the decider.
Petra broke at 3-2 and never looked back to claim her firts title of the season.
"The first set was a really big fight - every game was very close. Maybe I was a little bit lucky to win the first set," Kvitova said. "She played very well in the second set. She was very aggressive without any mistakes."
"I didn't really realize - but that was really good tennis from her," Kvitova said. "Between the second and third sets, when I was in the locker room changing my clothes, I knew I had to be the first one to attack the balls and play much faster than in the second set. I also needed a higher first serve percentage."
This was Kvitova´s first WTA final in North America.
"I have asthma so I have trouble breathing sometimes, but it wasn't too humid here this week," Kvitova said of that last stat. "It's only a problem in North America, unfortunately, because here it's more humid than Europe or Australia, where it's very hot but not that humid. Humidity is the main problem for me.
"But it's great to know I can play well here and it's great I finally won a title this year. I'm so glad it could be here at the Rogers Cup in Montréal."
After this final, Li now moves back into the Top 10.
"I really have to say she played very well today. I think we both played a very good match," Li said. "I'm very happy because this was the first hardcourt tournament after the Olympics, and my new coach is going to come to Cincinnati, so I think this is a very good start to this season for me."
"She's very tough. She plays the ball so deep. I felt I was always on defense. The last two matches I felt I could be aggressive on the court, but this one I felt I was 70 percent of the time on defense."! Li added.
Source WTA
Photo Getty images
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