Kiki Bertens and the home hopeful Viktorija Golubic clashed for the Gstaad title in their fourth meeting. The last two encounters went the way of the Dutch who holds a slender 2-1 lead in the head-to-head record over Golubic.
They may be some miles apart in the rankings but the 105th-ranked Swiss had plenty to give in a tight contest. Both women started well before Bertens edged out the first set. Golubic, backed by her home crowd, came right back into the match forcing a decider. The 23-year-old Swiss was down a break at the start of the third set but recovered quickly. The match then went right down to the wire before Golubic eventually drew the error from Bertens to seal off a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory to capture the title in her first final.
Bertens edges out a tight first set
It was looking like a match of quality serving as both women breezed through the first three games without any trouble. Bertens had half a chance in the fourth game as Golubic lost her first points on serve but the Swiss went on to hold serve. She then tested Bertens, pushing her to deuce with some fine backhand skills, however, the Dutch too held to edge in front, leading 3-2.
Bertens conjured up the first break point of the match in the sixth game. Golubic was made to scramble around as the Dutch piled on the pressure. The chance went begging though as the Swiss came up with a glorious backhand down the line winner before seeing out the game to level for 3-3.
The Dutch then handed the first break to the Swiss with a rather poor game allowing Golubic to take the lead. The match had well heated up as Bertens broke right back to keep the match going on serve. Golubic was in a spot of trouble as she went 0-30 serving to stay in the match. She managed to dig herself out and had game point. However, the pressure was telling as errors handed a set point to Bertens who grabbed it to take a one set lead.
Golubic fights back to level the match
Golubic got off to just the start she wanted, breaking the Bertens’ serve immediately. The Dutch was giving it all she had forcing Golubic to play extra balls as she went in search of the break back. The second game was turning out to be the longest game of the match thus far and the Swiss couldn’t hang on as Bertens eventually found the break back in the marathon game.
The breaks continued, though, with the Swiss hitting a delightful drop shot to take the lead again. And this time, she consolidated the break to lead 3-1. It was all falling apart for Bertens now as Golubic got the double break to extend her lead to 4-1.
At the sit-down and after advice from her coach, Bertens fired back winning two games on the trot to reduce the deficit to 3-4. However, with Golubic holding her serve for 5-3, the pressure was back on the Dutch. Bertens buckled, allowing the Swiss to level the match at one set a piece.
Bertens falters right at the end of a close set
Bertens drew first blood in the deciding set but was unable to consolidate even though she had game points as errors cost her to hand the early break back to the Swiss. Golubic was looking shaky on serve but was able to hang on for 2-1.
Neither player looked to yield as the set progressed on serve and soon Bertens had to serve to stay in the match at 4-5. Golubic was piling on the pressure and drew an error from the Dutch setting up match point just as the match ticked to two hours. Golubic’s shot whizzed past Bertens’ racket as the Dutch missed and the Swiss fell to the ground in joy as she clinched her first-ever WTA title.