Memory Lane

Madrid Memories 2015: Kvitova reclaims crown, Serena wins classic

From a gripping match between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka to Svetlana Kuznetsova racking up marathon victories and Petra Kvitova peaking to claim her second title in the Spanish capital, look back on the story of the 2015 Mutua Madrid Open.

01 /17
Mariana Duque-Mariño qualified and won one of the most dramatic Madrid first-round matches in 2015, saving five match points and winning on her sixth to defeat Heather Watson 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(11) - the longest WTA Tour tiebreak of the season to this point.

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02 /17
All five of Alizé Cornet's Top 5 wins came in a 15-month spell over 2014-15, with the most recent being her 7-6(6), 6-3 first-round upset of No.2 seed Simona Halep, whose 2015 season was the only one of the 2010s in which she did not reach a clay final.

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03 /17
A first-round upset of two halves saw Barbora Strycova fall behind 0-6, 1-3 to No.6 seed Eugenie Bouchard, but roar back to triumph 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 for her first Top 10 win on clay.

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04 /17
Former World No.1 and two-time finalist Victoria Azarenka, unseeded and attempting to rebuild her ranking after an injury-afflicted 2014, scored her second 2015 defeat of No.16 seed Venus Williams in the first round 6-3, 7-5.

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05 /17
No.1 seed Serena Williams dropped just five games across her first two matches, dismissing Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-0 in the second round - the second of three wins Williams would score over Stephens in 2015.

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06 /17
Having ousted No.8 seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, former World No.2 Svetlana Kuznetsova won a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 thriller over future World No.1 Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round.

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07 /17
No.7 seed Ana Ivanovic would win her first seven matches against future World No.3 Elina Svitolina, and the sixth of those came in the second round this year 6-3, 6-4.

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08 /17
In the third round, however, No.10 seed Carla Suárez Navarro overcame a 0-2 head-to-head to post her first win over Ivanovic 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 - the Spaniard's second of three Top 10 wins in Madrid.

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09 /17
No.3 seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova did not drop a set in her first two matches, and then triumphed 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 over Caroline Garcia in a third-round epic.

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10 /17
Two-time champion Serena Williams pulled off one of her greatest escapes in the third round, saving triple match point against Victoria Azarenka - having lost one of her own - en route to a two-hour, 49-minute 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(1) victory.

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11 /17
Svetlana Kuznetsova continued to rack up marathon wins, surviving Samantha Stosur 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(5) in the third round and saving two match points down 4-5 in the decider en route to quelling Lucie Safarova 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(3) in the quarterfinals.

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12 /17
Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki's back-and-forth rivalry swung back the Russian's way after a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 quarterfinal win that snapped a two-match losing streak to the No.5 seed.

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13 /17
Petra Kvitova struggled through three-setters in her first two rounds against Olga Govortsova and CoCo Vandeweghe - but by the semifinals had hit peak form to score a first win over Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3.

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14 /17
Svetlana Kuznetsova also shook off her arduous, nine-and-a-half hour journey to the semifinals to deliver a flawless performance and dethrone Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-4 - the last time the compatriots would ever play each other.

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15 /17
Petra Kvitova had needed to take a month's break due to mental and physical exhaustion in March, but claimed the Madrid title in just her third event back, maintaining her scintillating form to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-2 in the final.

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16 /17
Kvitova did not drop serve during the 68-minute final, reclaiming the title she had previously won in 2011, while Kuznetsova's run lifted her back into the Top 20 for the first time since the previous January.

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17 /17
The 2015 Madrid title was the 16th of Kvitova's career, and the second of three trophies the Czech would lift in 2015 - a year in which she would return to her career high of World No.2 for the first time since February 2012.

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