History all round as Shnaider and Ostapenko win big
A COUPLE of WTA Tour events came to a close over the weekend, with both events’ winners making a little bit of history by taking out those titles.
OSTAPENKO MAKES IT TITLE TWO FOR 2024 IN AUSTRIA
Over in Austria it was Jelena Ostapenko who earnt her eighth WTA singles title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The number one seed took only 70 minutes to defeat the second seed and pick up her second title for the year, and in the process she became the first player to win two WTA tour titles this year.
It was a game with a high number of aces – 12 between the pair, but crucially it was the Latvian who finished with the higher first serve percentage and percentage of points won off both the first and second serve.
“It was a really good week, and I felt like every match I was playing better and better,” World No.12 Ostapenko said, after her win.
“It’s really amazing to win two singles trophies this year already, and winning a doubles trophy as well, [and] playing Australian Open [doubles] final — it’s like four tournaments and four finals, which is really great.
“I’m just happy with the way I’m playing this year. I think I feel like I’m more mature and more confident with my game, so it even motivates me more to work hard and get back to the Top 10.”
SHNAIDER GETS ON THE TITLE BOARD IN THAILAND
Meanwhile in Thailand, 19 year old Diana Shnaider picked up her first tour title with a hard fought three set win over Zhu Lin to win the Thailand Open.
After Shnaider took the first set, second seed Zhu took the second set before Shnaider fought back hard in the third set to take the win 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
There was only one ace and one double fault for the match (both coming off Shnaider’s racket) so other factors proved crucial in the match.
Shnaider finished with the higher percentage of first serves in, but Zhu won more points off her first serve. However, Shnaider saved more break points than Zhu did, with the second seeded Chinese start not saving any of the five points she faced.
The win sees Schnaider become the second teenager after Coco Gauff to win a WTA title this season, and will see her jump back into the top 100 today.
“The atmosphere here feels like a Grand Slam, I’m not lying,” she said. “This is a Grand Slam for me here. The people and the energy has been amazing for me.”
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