Moscow: Victor Troicki of Serbia claimed his maiden title, and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her fifth women's crown with victories in the Kremlin Cup finals on Sunday.
The 43rd-ranked Troicki rallied to beat fourth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Azarenka downed her Russian doubles partner Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-4.
The 19th-ranked Baghdatis, who was making his debut at the event, took a 1-0 lead in his third appearance in a final this season with a break in the sixth game. Both players held in the second set before the 43rd-ranked Troicki leveled the match at 1-1 with a break in the 10th game and went 4-1 up in the third set. Baghdatis saved a match point in the eighth game, but Troicki, serving for the match at 5-2, clinched the win with a forehand volley.
"Marcos (Baghdatis) was playing very good in the first set," said Troicki. "But then I started playing better and better and in the end, I won my first title. It feels unbelievable."
Baghdatis said that two bad calls from a linesman in the end of the second set had "a big impact" on the result of the match. A TV replay showed that Troicki's shot in the 10th game was out.
"It's very, very frustrating," said Baghdatis. "I don't mind losing but we are professionals and we need professionals to be on the lines. Everyone can make a mistake but it wasn't a mistake. The guy was sleeping."
In the women's final, after an exchange of breaks early in the match, Azarenka broke her opponent twice to take the first set.
Azarenka had a disastrous start to the second set when the 24th-ranked Kirilenko, who reached the final of her hometown event on her sixth attempt, moved to a 4-0 lead.
The 10th-ranked Azarenka saved three break points in the seventh game — and three more in the ninth — to win six straight games. She wrapped up the victory with a forehand net volley after Kirilenko saved two match points.
"It was really tough to win the second set as Maria started pretty good, dominating the play completely," Azarenka said. "I tried hard to stay in the match fighting for every point and it paid off. I'm really happy to win here on my third attempt."
By reaching the quarterfinals in Moscow, Azarenka secured a spot in the season-ending WTA Tour championships in Doha, Qatar.
"It's a big boost to win ahead of Doha," said Azarenka. "The win gave me confidence and perfect fitness. I feel my rhythm and I'm ready to go and play there."
Comments
0 comment