JENNIFER Brady has claimed her maiden WTA Tour title by taking out the inaugural Top Seed Open in Lexington by defeating Swiss talent, Jil Teichmann 6-3 6-4 in the final today. The match lasted an hour and 42 minutes and the title-less Brady was up against Teichmann who had only claimed her own back-to-back titles in Palermo and Prague last year. Opting to head to the American circuit in order to play at flushing Meadows for the US Open, Teichmann showed what a bright future she has, with the recently turned 23-year-old set to enjoy a career-high ranking despite the loss.

The 25-year-old American still has plenty of years left herself, and despite making the Indian Wells Challenger final – where she lost to Viktorija Golubic – last year, Brady had never previously made a WTA Tour final. As a predominant clay courter, Brady has not been as proficient on hard court, though she got the job done at Lexington to give her great confidence heading into New York after wins over Teichmann, Coco Gauff, Magda Linette, Misaki Doi and Heather Watson.

In the final, both players looked strong early as they held their serves, until Teichmann produced back-to-back double faults in the fourth game handing Brady her first break point. The Swiss talent managed to hold but each game the American seemed to get closer. The next service game Brady created three break points, but went 0/4 thus far with Teichmann again holding for 3-3 in the first set. Brady was on the back foot herself next game as Teichmann went up 15-40 and the American had to save a massive four break points before holding. That spurred the world number 49 on as she finally broke in the eighth game and then held to take out the set 6-3.

The American was a set up despite a serving efficiency of just 33 per cent in the first set, but was making it count with an elite 78.6 per cent and 57.1 per cent success rate off her first and second serve points. Teichmann was strong off her first serve with 73.7 per cent, but only 31.3 per cent off her second serve. Brady quickly continued her run to make it five consecutive games from 3-3 in the first set to be 6-3 2-0 with an important break in the opening game off her first chance. Both players managed to hold from there in what had been a really safe serving performance from the players despite lower efficiency from Brady. Holding serve and not being broken throughout the match, the American held on to win 6-4, without conceding a break point opportunity in the second set.

In the end, Brady had served at a much higher 60.7 per cent in the second set which brought her match total efficiency to 44.3 percent, as well as 80.6 per cent off her first serve, and 61.5 per cent off her second serve. All four break points saved came in the one game as she was successful with two of seven. Teichmann fought hard, but the two breaks were costly for the 23-year-old. Both players will head to the Western and Southern Open as automatic entries, with Brady up to a career-high 40th in the world, while Teichmann is at an equal career-high 54th on Tour.