Former world
number one Caroline Wozniacki has won the WTA Kremlin Cup after defeating 2011
US Open champion Samantha Stosur in Moscow.
The 22 year old
claimed her 20th career title, and second for the year, with a tightly
fought 6-2 4-6 7-5 victory over her Australian opponent and leveled her
head-to-head record with Stosur at 3-3.
The Dane came out
firing at the Olympic Stadium taking an early 3-1 lead. She rattled the world
number nine, who was clearly struggling on serve, breaking her three times
during the opening set to take it in 37 minutes.
The second set exposed
nerves from either side of the net and with both players struggling to find
their rhythm, the first six games all resulted in breaks of serve. However it was
Stosur who prevailed drawing level at one set a piece with her third ace of the
match.
In the third
Stosur looked on course for her first title since last year’s US Open triumph
after going ahead 2-0, but failed to convert her shots and handed Wozniacki the
crucial break back in the sixth game.
“I definitely had
a few chances”, top seed Stosur said. “I think I went for the right shots but
missed by a couple of inches.”
At 4-5, Stosur
saved her first match point with her fourth ace but could not survive match
point number two and handed Wozniacki the deciding break to win the match in
2hr 13min.
“It was a tough
match and it could have gone either way,” Wozniacki said. “ I hit some good
shots close to the line on important points and it made the difference.”
Meanwhile in the
men’s final, Italian second seed Andreas Seppi came from behind to beat
Brazilian Thomaz Belluci 3-6 7-6(3) 6-3.
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