Duan Ying-Ying ended her run at Jiangxi Women’s Open in the best way ever. She had made her debut in a WTA semifinal, in a WTA final and then successfully grabbed her first title, at the expense of an in-form Vania King, in her first final since 2013. Both King and Duan came from a very satisfying week, but in the end, a re-found consistency on serve, gained after a struggling first set, helped a more confident Duan in her way to perform a huge comeback to the victory. Duan became the winner of the third edition of the tournament held in Nanchang, and the first one as a WTA International event. The previous two ones had been played as part of the WTA 125k Series.
Vania King will be back in the WTA top 100 after her week, reaching the ranking of 90th in the world. Players Risa Ozaki and Zhang Kai-Lin, who lost in the semifinals and quarterfinal respectively, will reach their career-high rankings after their campaign in Nanchang.
King storms ahead and claims the first set
The match began with a lot of struggle showed by Duan, who hadn’t been able to hold any of her service game, letting King dominate the set in only 25 minutes. The American started her campaign with an early break, consolidated right away with a hold to 15. She kept pushing on Duan’s serve; the Chinese saved four break points without ever getting a chance to hold, and eventually gave up on the fifth, falling 0-3 down.
Duan’s reaction came in the following game; attacking King’s serve, she took one of the breaks back to 15, but kept giving away too many points with unforced errors and she got broken again right after. Another quick hold secured King a 5-1 lead. A disastrous game on serve close the set for the Chinese; after an initial winner from a confident King, she hit a double-fault and two forehand errors to give up the game to love and lose the set 6-1.
Duan battles back to turns the tables around and force to a decider
The second set started following King’s momentum; she lost just two points as she began on serve, hitting a double-fault and a backhand error, but a final ace granted her an hold from the start. She then set a close battle on return points against Duan, who kept her error streak from the first set and conceded more chances to King for the lead. She hit two cross-court forehand winners right on the line to save the first, and gain a chance to hold, but a double-fault right away (the fourth of her match) wasted her effort and brought the game back to deuce. King’s all-court defense on the second break point eventually delivered the Chinese into another error, and made her fell once again to 0-2 down.
She didn’t have to work hard to take the break back this time; she attacked on returns, helped by a net cord at the start of the game, and immediately gained three break points. She converted the third by forcing King again to run an all-court defense and delivered her into an error.
The Chinese’s set became complicated again as she went back on serve. She kept hitting too many errors, and found herself in need to save break points again. Two well-placed serves saved the first ones, and an error by King gave her a chance to hold, which the Chinese immediately converted to win her first game on serve of all the match.
The American held to love, and then started to battle again to reconquer the lead. Duan played some of the best points of her match to save three break points, hitting cross-courts volleys and painting the lines to get one chance to hold; she converted it with a huge first serve and leveled-off to 3-all.
After that, the American became the one in trouble; down 0-40 on her serve, she had only to thank another error streak from her opponent that brought the game to deuce, and then let her hold. A regained consistency on serve by Duan helped her to avoid another tricky battle on her serve, and after that she kept pushing, and hit three winners to a 40-0 lead and three break points. King hit the ball out on the first, and gifted Duan the chance to serve for the set.
Despite she complicated her game again with a double-fault on the first set point, the Chinese got helped by another error from her opponent on the second, who made her take the set 6-4 and bring the match into a third.
Duan fights with her serve and conquers the title
The American’s struggling moment kept going as the decider began; she dropped her serve to love, suffering from Duan’s pressure on returns, and then wasted her only chance to hold as the Chinese hit three unreachable winners in a row to consolidate the break.
King seemed to be back int focus in her following game, closing well-built points on serve to secure the hold. Another close battle followed on the Chinese’s serve, and again the 27-year-old caused herself trouble by alternating flawless first serves and well-placed winners with double-faults and unforced errors, becoming her own worst enemy in the game. Two fast winners to end the game let her overcame the struggle and hold.
Two comfortable games on serve followed, and then it became King’s turn to struggle again; the American hit an error to waste one chance to hold, and then fell again down a break point. One more crucial error made her drop her serve once again and gave Duan the chance to serve out the set. No trouble from then on for the Chinese; she kept the good consistency on the first serve she had found during the match, and quickly closed the game on her first match point, claiming the Championship for her first WTA title in career.
As the match advanced, Duan found herself able to make a huge difference when she managed to put her first serve in. Despite a large number of errors that nearly costed her the match, a good percentage of winners and a consistent game on return allowed her to prevail against the American, who struggled more and more on both serve and return side in the late part of the match, after an almost perfect first set. King kept showing good skills on defense, chasing every ball and covering all the court, but also increasing the number of errors as the game advanced and Duan's game started to become more and more aggressive on attack.
Duan Ying-Ying will be able to add a WTA title to the 11 she had already won in the ITF circuit. After starting the tournament as number 163 in the rankings, she’ll gain 57 positions to get closer to enter the top 100 again, as world number 106, and as China’s number 4.