In a tournament with star-studded names, American Lauren Davis emerged as the champion of the ASB Classic after defeating eighth seed Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-1. Davis, the 61st ranked player in the world, won her first career WTA Tour championship.
Davis gets solitary break to take opening set
The server was dominating through the first five games, losing a total of three points, all on Konjuh's serve. The first break chance fell to Davis and she took it on a blistering passing shot for a 4-2 lead. Konjuh came right back and broke back. With the set on serve and her nerves settled, it appeared the Croatian was ready to take command.
It wasn't to be as Davis broke again and now one game from taking the opening set, the American recorded her third hold to love in the set, winning it 6-3. Davis' strong serving display, not a strength of her game, surprised just about everyone.
Davis runs away with second set as Konjuh picks up foot injury
At some point in the second set, Konjuh appeared to have picked up a foot injury that was now hampering her game on top of the problems Davis was causing her. It showed as the second set started, the 19-year old double faulting to hand the American an early break. Finally making inroads on Davis' serve, Konjuh was unable to win a marathon game and that proved to be her last chance to turn things around. Her only game came when she held to cut the lead to 2-1.
The errors were now piling up for the Croatian and that led to a second break and a 4-1 lead for Davis. Sprinting to the finish line, the American saved a break point to move within a game of the match and she closed things out after trailing 40-0 on Konjuh's serve for first career title.