Madrid, May 10 (IANS) Petra Kvitova was crowned as the champion of the women’s tournament in the Mutua Madrid Masters.

The number four seed, who on Friday inflicted the first defeat of the season on Serena Williams, had few problems in beating the unseeded Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 6-2 in a match which lasted one hour and six minutes on Saturday, Xinhua reported.

The Czech was in control of the game from the very start and the reigning Wimbledon champion, who last year reached the semi-finals in Madrid, never looked to be in trouble against Kuznetsova.

Rafael Nadal assured his place in his fourth consecutive final in Madrid thanks to a 7-6 (3), 6-1 win against number six seed Tomas Berdych.

Once again Nadal was cheered on by a partisan home crowd in the Caja Magica, but Berdych was able to withstand the pressure for the first set.

However, after losing the first set in the tie-breaker, he wilted under a combination of the Madrid sun and Nadal’s powerful clay court play.

Nadal’s rival will be decided later on Saturday in the match between number two seed Andy Murray and Japan’s number four seed, Kei Nishikori, who will no doubt be keen to have another chance to take on Nadal after being forced to retire from last year’s final due to a back injury.