Wild card Laura reigns in Stuttgart

STUTTGART: Germany’s Laura Siegemund was the shock winner of Stuttgart’s WTA tournament on Sunday after her three-set win over France’s Kristina Mladenovic in the final.

Laura, ranked 49th in the world and a wild card entry for the main draw, sealed a 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5) win over Kristina, who had beaten Maria Sharapova in the semifinal, ending the Russian’s comeback from a 15-month doping ban.

The 29-year-old converted her first match point after nearly two and a half hours to claim only her second WTA win after victory at Bastad, Sweden, last July.

“It was an incredible match, I don’t know how I managed to win here,” said the new champion. Kristina praised her rival. “Laura played some really entertaining tennis,” said the 23year-old. Laura made a strong start, charging into a 4-0 lead after twice breaking Kristina’s serve in what proved to be a topsy-turvy first set.

The Frenchwoman, 19th in the world, broke laura in the fifth game, but the German returned the compliment breaking Kristina straight away, then serving out to take the first set in 29 minutes.

Just as she did in her three-set win over Maria, Kristina turned things around to take the second set, breaking laura twice to force a third set.

The decider swung back and forth with both players breaking the other twice to force the tiebreaker, but it was Laura who held her nerve to claim victory.

She drove away with the prize of a brand new Porsche sports car and €107,036 (RM506,000) of winnings.