Garcia secures first title of year in Wuhan
WUHAN, China: Unseeded Caroline Garcia of France won her first title of the year on Saturday, beating Ashleigh Barty 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the Wuhan Open final.
“A title is the best, it’s the best thing you can have in tennis. A big one or a small one, it doesn’t matter,” said Garcia, who clinched her fourth career title.
The 20th-ranked Garcia, playing her first final of 2017, struck first by breaking Barty’s serve in the seventh game and holding the next to take a 5-3 lead. Barty easily held her serve and broke back for 5-5. Neither player could then hold their serve and Barty won the tiebreaker.
The second set saw both players struggling for consistency in their serves and trading breaks. Barty’s sliced backhand caused her opponent some problems and she served twice for the set but was unable to close. It was Garcia's turn to win the tiebreaker.
Garcia went 3-1 up in the decider and gained another break before taking the title with a stunning serve.
“I feel this where I belong,” said 37th-ranked Barty, who beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinals. “I’ve had a fantastic year so far.” Bondarenko wins title
in Tashkent
Ukraine’s veteran Kateryna Bondarenko beat second seeded Timea Babos of Hungary in straight sets to claim the title at Tashkent Open WTA tournament on Saturday.
Bondarenko, 31, who is 133rd in the WTA rankings, prevailed 6-4, 6-4 in one hour 28 minutes.
“I played a good match today with some really good rallies,” Bondarenko, who won her maiden WTA title in Birmingham in 2008, said.
“I was happy to finish the match in two sets, I was getting tired.”
Ukraine’s veteran looked confident from the start and broke her rival's serve in the seventh game for a one-set lead after 38 minutes.
In the second set Bondarenko broke early again for a comfortable 3-0 lead, which she kept throughout to claim her career’s second WTA title.
Sharapova digs deep in
China Open epic
Maria Sharapova gained revenge over the Latvian 16th seed Anastasija Sevastova with a gutsy 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 7-6 (9/7) victory in the China Open first round on Saturday.
It was the five-time Grand Slam winner's first appearance since she was beaten by Sevastova at the US Open in early September and gets her stop-start return from a doping ban back on track.
Sharapova, ranked 104 in the world, is a wildcard in Beijing as she works her way back slowly from a 15-month ban for taking the banned substance meldonium.
She was far from her best, but Sharapova dug in during an attritional match lasting more than three hours.
Sevastova broke the Russian former No. 1 — who had the majority of the crowd behind her — in the seventh game of the first set to seize the early initiative.
Sharapova immediately broke back for 4-4, before falling 6-5 down on her own serve when her drop shot went astray, only to strike back immediately to force a tie break.
“Come on!” the former China Open champion Sharapova shouted as she wrapped up the first-set tie break.
The 30-year-old looked set to race through the second set to book her place in round two.