World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland earned her eighth title of the season by outlasting Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to win the San Diego Open on Sunday.
The final was Swiatek’s 64th match victory of the season, the most in a single season since Serena Williams finished 2013 with a whopping 78.
Swiatek won 31 of her 44 first-service points (70.4 percent), claimed 14 of 17 second-service points (82.3 percent) and broke Vekic’s serve four times in six opportunities.
Vekic, the 77th-ranked player in the world, had to wrap up her semifinal match earlier Sunday after it was postponed Saturday night due to rain. Vekic was trailing the third set 4-2 in that match but stormed back to stun American Danielle Collins 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2).
WTA Transylvania Open
Russia’s Anna Blinkova defeated Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in three sets in the final at Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
The 24-year-old Blinkova, ranked 138th in the world won 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the matchup of unseeded players, while playing in her first tour-level final. Paolini is ranked 74th.
Blinkova broke Paolini’s serve on back-to-back opportunities to take control of the first set, but lost her own serve three times in the second set. Blinkova then broke Paolini twice in the final three games to complete the match.
–Field Level Media
