Kanepi takes second 2012 title with Estoril success
ESTORIL, Portugal: Kaia Kanepi claimed her second WTA trophy of the season after saving two match points
Win a 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 victory over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro in the final of the Estoril Open yesterday. The Estonian sixth seed became the third woman to win the clay event after saving match points.
She lifted the title four months after winning Brisbane in early January.
“I fought for every point,” said the 34thranked winner, aged 26.
“This is a very special trophy for me. I don’t have a coach right now — this is something that I did all on my own.” Kanepi, a former French Open junior champion who now has three WTA titles, looked to be going out as the unseeded Suarez Navarro went up a break in the second set after winning the first.
But four breaks of serve in the last five games of the second led to a tie-break, where the Spaniard was betrayed by nerves as she conceded a 4-2 lead in the decider.
Kanepi closed the gap and then lifted her level even further as she saved back-to-back match points.
One set point for the Estonian was enough to take it into a deciding set after nearly two hours of play.
Kanepi broke in the final game to conclude victory in two hours and 37 minutes with 20 winners and six breaks of serve, dropping to her knees on the clay after converting match point.
“It was just so special,” said the player who missed nearly two months through injury from mid-january to mid-march. “I fought so hard, even when I was losing.
“I knew that it was not over until the last point and that’s the way it went. I’m so happy to win.” Suarez Navarro, the world No. 58, admitted she spurned her best chances because she tightened up.
“I had chances to win, but I got nervous,” said the Spaniard. “Kaia played a smart match. I can only look ahead now to Madrid.
“I didn’t play my best when I needed to. She wore me down, especially mentally.”
Cilic in final
In Munich, Germany, Croatian third-seed Marin Cilic will face Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final of Munich’s ATP tournament after they both enjoyed victories in yesterday’s semifinal.
Fourth-seed Kohlschreiber needed three sets and more than two hours to beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, the second seed, to seal a 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4 victory and book his place in Sunday’s clay-court final In contrast, the 23-year-old Cilic needed just 75 minutes to secure a 6-3, 6-4 win over former world number two Haas, who defeated Marcos Baghdatis in Friday’s quarterfinals and also saw off top seed Jo-wilfried Tsonga earlier in the competition.
“It was my best match of the week,” said Cilic, who is through to his first final of the season.
“I played and served extremely well. I believe he didn’t reach deuce on my serve. I waited for my chances on return. Tommy played really well this week and I went into the match with thoughts of that. It made good preparation for everything.”