COMING back from a disappointing first set, Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia produced a Korea Open final to remember. The South American who is ranked 17th in the world was seeded three at the WTA Tour event in Seoul, and overcame an early challenge from top seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina to win 1-6 6-4 6-1.
In just her second appearance at the event – her last being way back in 2017 – Haddad Maia had already made it two finals from as many attempts, though on this occasion she was successful. The Brazilian had won two of three matches against Kasatkina, and though the early form looked like an easy win to the Russian, Haddad Maia found a way to get back on top.
Kasatkina looked unstoppable in the first set, winning 16 of 18 points on serve, which considering she only missed her first serve twice was a key reason why the 27-year-old was on top. By contrast, Haddad Maia only won nine of 20 off her serve and was broken twice to fall 6-1 in the opening set which took a measly 26 minutes.
The Russian continued her form early in the second with a break of serve to make it seven straight games, before Haddad Maia composed herself and got back on level pegging. In the seventh game Haddad Maia surged ahead before holding firmly in the ninth game and winning a millimetre Hawk-Eye challenge in the 10th game to force a third set.
With the momentum on her side, Haddad Maia broke in the fourth game and then fought back from 0-40 down in the very next game to move to 4-1 for the set. That seemingly broke Kasatkina as Haddad Maia won through after winning the last five games of the match.
Incredibly after the disappointing first set, Haddad Maia ended with a 72 per cent success rate off her first serve points compared to Kasatkina’s 63 per cent, while breaking four times across the last three sets. She only won three more points than her opponent in total, but was far stronger when it counted.
“I knew that I was working very hard during the last weeks, last months,” Haddad Maia said post-match.
“I feel stronger, I feel that I’m very competitive now. I’m in a good moment, ready for the next week. I feel that I’m doing very good things, working hard, and yeah, let’s see what the end of the season brings to me.”
The victory marked Haddad Maia’s fourth career WTA Tour title and holds her in good stead as the Singles Race heats up.
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