Pune: Brazil’s Laura Pigossi grabbed her first ITF 25K title of the year by beating Marianna Zakarlyuk of Ukraine 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) at Deccan Gymkhana courts on Sunday. She rallied back from 1-5 down to claim the third set in a tie breaker.
“I had played three tournaments last week this year and lost a tough final. So, I was looking forward to winning this title even as the conditions were difficult,” said Pigossi after the match.
In the first set, the third seeded Pigossi broke the opponent’s serve in the first, third and fifth. Zakarlyuk was dull with her approach as she made three double faults to go down 6-0 in the first set.
During the second set, Zakarlyuk showed more intent in her game and hit two aces to open up 1-0 and then broke Pigossi in the fourth game to take 3-1 lead before winning it 6-3. Pigossi followed her opponents’ mistakes of the first set and made five double faults of which three came on the trot in the seventh game.
“I need to work on certain areas of my game,” Pigossi said. Zakarlyuk, who had defeated home favourite Rutuja Bhosale in the quarterfinal, was in control in the third set for the first four games breaking Pigossi twice (first and third game).
However, 26-year-old Pigossi clawed back into the match from the sixth game from 1-5 down to break Zakarlyuk in the eight and tenth game to force a set into tie break which she won 7-5 to claim the title in 2 hour 37 minutes.
“I played well and had many opportunities in the second set as well. When I was down 1-5, I told myself I have to win and hung on. Suddenly the momentum started shifting and the scores were 5-5 by the time I realised. Credit to my opponent for making a great match,” Zakarlyuk said.
The singles winner got $3,935 ( ₹2,86,000) and 50 WTA points while the runners up received $2,107( ₹1,54,000) and 30 points.
Bhosale, Webley-Smith lift doubles title
Top seeds Rutuja Bhosale of India and Emily Webley-Smith of Great Britain lifted the doubles title on Saturday.
In the doubles finals Bhosale and Webley-Smith won their second 25K event on the ITF circuit as they trounced second seeded Riya Bhatia of India and Miriam Bianca Bulgaru (Rou) 6-2, 7-5 to win the title.
The pair had earlier won a similar event at Jodhpur in February 2020 before the lockdown. Bhosale will move into the top 200 in the doubles ranking. Rutuja and Emily won 50 WTA points and $1,437 ( ₹1,05,000) while the runners up had to be content with 30 WTA points and $719 ( ₹52000).
Results
Finals
Singles: 3-Laura Pigossi (BRA) bt 5-Marianna Zakarlyuk (UKR) 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).
Doubles: 1-Rutuja Bhosale (Ind) and Emily Webley-Smith (Gbr) bt 2-Riya Bhatia (Ind) and Miriam Bianca Bulgaru (Rou) 6-2, 7-5
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