Last day at the inaugural St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy. Roberta Vinci captured her tenth WTA title after defeating top seed, Belinda Bencic. In the doubles action, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza prevailed and win their 13th title.
Vinci Captures her 10th Career Title After Defeating Bencic
The Italian had a strong start, breaking Bencic in her first service game. Vinci extended her lead 3-0 in the first set before the Swiss got on board after holding to love. The top seed recovered the break, but the Italian started playing more aggressive. Vinci’s excellent movement started to affect Bencic who at this point was trying to hold her serve to stay in the set, but the Italian outstanding skills on the net proved to be too strong and broke to win the first set 6-4.
The second set was an amazing display of tennis by Vinci who ended up winning fifteen out of sixteen points on her first serve. The fourth game was a combination of Vinci’s well-placed winners and Bencic’s set of mistakes that resulted in Vinci breaking. Bencic could not create a break opportunity in the second set, and soon, the Italian was serving for the championship. Roberta Vinci closed the match in a perfect way, with an ace and defeating the top seed of the tournament 6-4, 6-3.
“It was a tough match; Belinda is a great player, so it's tough to play against her. She only missed a few balls, so I had to stay focused every single point.” The Italian said.
SanTina Win Their 13th Title And Continue Their Winning Streak
The last day was opened by a great doubles showdown from the top seed, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza who would take on Vera Dushevina and Barbora Krajcikova.
The top seeds started strong with a comfortable held of serve, then they would have a break point that Krejcikova would save with a break to put the first set 1-1. Both teams held their services, but it was SanTina the first one to cause harm in the first set after Sania Mirza hit a deep ball to win the deciding point and go up 4-2. Mirza would be in charge to serve for the first set and she didn’t hesitate to close it up with a great lob.
A forehand winner and a passing shot gave the chance to SanTina to break in the first game of the second set. A double-fault by Krajcikova gave the break right away. Martina Hingis at the net proved to too quick for their opponents, blocking every shot to eventually find the winner that helped the top seeds hold comfortably. A wide backhand by Dushevina gave the second break to the number one team, who now led 3-0 in the second set.
For the first time in the match, Dushevina and Krajcikova had a break point chance, but they weren’t able to convert it. The top seeds were cruising 4-0. It wasn't until the fifth game of the set when Dushevina and Krajcikova were able to hold serve to get on the scoreboard. Hingis saved two break points, both with smashes. SanTina closed the match breaking their opponents again to capture their 13th title together 6-3, 6-1.
"We're obviously very happy to win another title but now that we're coming closer and closer to the next target of 44, we can't help but think about," Mirza said.
