FAST becoming the benchmark of indoor tennis, Estonian Anett Kontaveit has claimed her fourth straight title WTA Tour indoor title, extending her streak in the conditions to 20-straight wins. Her latest title came at St Petersburg, where Kontaveit defeated Greek star and top seed Maria Sakkari in a come-from-behind three set win, 5-7 7-6 7-5.

WTA TOUR

ST PETERSBURG LADIES TROPHY:

St Petersburg, Russia | WTA 500 | Hard

[2] Anett Kontaveit (EST) defeated [1] Maria Sakkari (GRE) 5-7 7-6 7-5

Becoming just the third player this millennium to notch up 20-straight indoor wins, Kontaveit is jus three wins away from being third on the overall record. She is one behind Jana Novotna and two behind Justin Henin and Lindsay Davenport, the latter two of whom achieved the feat this turn of the century. Though still some way off Steffi Graf‘s remarkable 43-game winning streak, Kontaveit is establishing herself as one of the most dominant indoor players of recent times.

Last year, Kontaveit claimed indoor trophies at Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca, with the St Petereburg crown taking her up to six career titles. In her win over Sakkari, Kontaveit edged ahead of her Greek opponent, winning her seventh head-to-head match to move to a 7-6 advantage from 13 clashes.

The match itself lasted a whopping two hours and 57 minutes, with Kontaveit winning 68.9 per cent and 47.8 per cent of her first and second serve points, almost identical to that of Sakkari’s 68.8 and 48.9 per cent. Both played broke four times, but Kontaveit’s final break in the deciding set proved the most important, able to win the last two games and secure the match.

In a little bit of a different set of post-match speeches, the pair paid tribute to each other and shared the love with their mutual respect for the other not just as players, but as people.

“Here we are once again, it’s disappointing for myself, you really deserved it, you played great tennis, you showed great character,” Sakkari said after accepting the runners-up trophy. “For people that don’t know, we are great friends and very, very happy for you and your achievements, and very happy for you team. I’ve mentioned it so many times that you’re a very good player, but you’re an extremely good person which for me counts more than just being a great tennis player, so congrats once again.”

In response, Kontaveit also paid tribute to Sakkari and said she admitted the Greek talent on and off the court too.

“I’m a little bit speechless from this but I would also like to congratulate Maria,” Kontaveit said. “I mean what you said brought a little tears to my eye, what you said I think the same about you. “You’re such a great person and I’m really happy that we get to share these finals together and play on these big stages and I think so much of you and I’m sure you will have so much success in the future.”

The Estonian will move up to sixth in the world after her St Petersburg title, with Sakkari unluckily slipping back a spot into eighth, due to Kontaveit leapfrogging her. In other big moves from the St Petersburg event, Jelena Ostapenko and Elise Mertens oth moved up four spots into 21st and 22nd respectively.

Kontaveit will move straight into another WTA Tour 500 event in Dubai, taking on Egyptian Mayar Sherif in the first round, before both players prepare for the WTA 1000 event in Doha the week after in a big month for the Estonian.