Petra Kvitova reaches Australian Open final two years after stabbing

Petra Kvitova is in the Australian Open final just over two years after being stabbed at her home, resulting in career-threatening injuries.

The Czech tennis start defeated Danielle Collins in Melbourne to book her place in the final where she will face Naomi Osaka, which will be a poignant moment for the 28-year-old who required surgery to save two fingers on her racket-holding hand following the vicious knife attack in 2016.

Now world No.6, Kvitova has reached the pinnacle of her sport once again, as she will contest her first Grand Slam final since 2014.

Despite the severity of the wounds suffered in the attack in December 2016, she recovered to play at Wimbledon the following year, a competition she had won twice previously.

Upon her Grand Slam comeback in July 2017, she said: "The last six months were difficult but now I can push restart. This is only the beginning of my new journey and I will come back stronger."

Kvitova shows her bandaged hand following surgery in 2016. Credit: AP

Since then she has returned to being in the top-five ranked players in the world but has not reached the final of a Grand Slam since her comeback.

Now she is back on the biggest stage after seeing off the unseeded Collins.

"I'm still not really believing that I'm in the final. I didn't know even if I was going to play tennis again," Kvitova said after the semi-final match.

"It wasn't really a nice time to be dealing with everything. It wasn't only physically, but mentally it was very tough, as well.

"It took me really a while to believe in the people around me again, and especially men, for sure. I wasn't confident to be alone somewhere.

Kvitova was stabbed in her left hand, which she uses to hold the racket. Credit: AP

"It was a lot of work with the hand, a lot of recovery, treatment. I think the sport life helped me a lot with that. I just set up the mind that I really wanted to come back, and I just did everything.

"Those three months were very, very tough. I found out lately that my doctor wasn't really happy with my hand during the second month, because the scars were very, very tight and hard, and I couldn't really do anything with that.

"Luckily he didn't tell me during that period. It's been a long journey.

"I'm really happy to be back (in a final) again. I think not very many people believe that I can do that again, to stand on the court and play tennis and play at this level. It was just really a few of them, I think.

"I'm very happy to have those few around me. Definitely it feels great. Hopefully for them as well, for my family and for everybody who was there when I needed it."