Kuznetsova survives a scare before title win
Russian made to work hard in a gruelling three-set final against Vekic
In the first set of the women’s singles final at the Citi Open on Sunday, Donna Vekic had the advantage. In the second set, she had four match points. But in the third, there was Svetlana Kuznetsova, still fighting, and still gaining momentum, until she ultimately prevailed.
Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam champion, defeated Vekic, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, in a gruelling final at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center to earn her 18th career WTA singles title but her first since 2016. She is still working her way back to top form after undergoing wrist surgery in November that kept her out of action until March.
“Those times I had after the surgery, I had difficulties everywhere — personal, working different things. I switched coaches. I had lots of issues,” Kuznetsova said. “But still, I rise again, and it’s really good for me.”
By grinding out her win over Vekic on a sweltering day in Washington, she became the first woman to win the Citi Open twice, following up on her previous victory in 2014.
After rain earlier in the week led to a condensed weekend schedule, Vekic finished her semi-final match Saturday night just before midnight after winning her rescheduled quarter-final earlier in the day. Vekic had said she was low on energy during the Saturday night match, and she had the same issue in a final that lasted 2 hours 31 minutes.
“It’s just been a very long week,” Vekic said. “We had a lot of late nights. I’m not saying that this was the reason I lost today, but for sure I’m going to need a couple days to fully recover my body.”
Vekic said her energy level started off low in the hot and humid conditions but then improved in the second set. By the third, just after she missed multiple chances to win her third career WTA Tour title, Vekic said her energy plummeted and Kuznetsova capitalised. “I work really hard, many hours, for exactly this moment — to know when another opponent is tired [and] I have something in my tank,” Kuznetsova said.
Medical timeout
Kuznetsova, 33, powered past her 22-year-old opponent in the lengthy secondset tiebreaker, and she only seemed to gain more energy from her escape. “I was struggling physically, mentally,” Vekic said. “It was not easy.”
Vekic called a medical timeout after the second set, leading to a nine-minute break on the changeover before the start of the third. Vekic said she had been dealing with leg pain throughout the tournament but doesn’t expect it to be an issue moving forward.
Kuznetsova, who said she could tell she was much more fresh than Vekic at that point, won the first five games of the final set before securing the victory. Kuznetsova’s years of experience made her an outlier among the finalists in both the men’s and women’s draws. Kuznetsova turned professional in 2000, the year her opponent Sunday turned 4.
Vekic and Kuznetsova had faced each other twice before in WTA tournaments. They split those matches, with Kuznetsova winning in 2016 in China and Vekic in 2014 in Miami.