Annika Beck of Germany won her first career title on Saturday after beating fourth-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 in the Luxembourg Open final.
The 20-year-old Beck, who is ranked 60th and was playing in her second final after finishing runner-up in Luxembourg last year, did not drop a set throughout the tournament.
“It’s an amazing feeling to win my first WTA title. I played the final last year and I said I’d do anything to win the title this year,” Beck said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to actually do it.”
Photo: Reuters
Beck broke Zahlavova Strycova’s shaky serve seven times and saved all five break-point chances on her own serve in the second set.
“I’m sad today, but overall it was a great, great week. I was playing well,” Zahlavova Strycova said. “I had my chances today, too. Unfortunately I couldn’t take them.”
Playing in her fifth final, Strycova was seeking her second career title after her only success at Quebec City three years ago.
However, she was let down by her serve, double-faulting four times and winning less than half of her first-serve points.
KREMLIN CUP
AP, MOSCOW
US Open champion Marin Cilic reached the final of the Kremlin Cup on Saturday, beating Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The big-serving Croatian was to face Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut in the final yesterday.
Cilic faced stiff resistance from world No. 74 Kukushkin, despite the 68 ranking places separating them, and landed just 55 percent of his first serves.
Earlier in the day, Cilic secured qualification for the ATP Tour Finals based on his ranking.
World No. 16 Bautista-Agut, seeded fifth in Moscow, was to play in his third final of a breakout season after beating third-seeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-4.
The women’s finalists are sixth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.
In the semi-finals, Pavlyuchenkova dominated Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakov from start to finish, winning 6-2, 6-2 to reach her 10th career final on the WTA tour.
Earlier, Begu fought to a 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-3 win over fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
STOCKHOLM OPEN
AP, STOCKHOLM
Top-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic is to play defending champion Grigor Dimitrov in the final of the Stockholm Open.
Berdych beat Matthias Bachinger 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 in Saturday’s semi-finals, while Dimitrov beat Australia’s Bernard Tomic 6-3, 7-5.
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