Anett Kontaveit downs top seed Maria Sakkari to win the St. Petersburg Ladies trophy
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Anett Kontaveit
Anett Kontaveit made a stellar comeback to defeat top seed Maria Sakkari 5-7, 7(7)-6(4), 7-5 in the finals of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy to lift her 6th WTA title. The Estonian came back from a set and a breakdown to emerge victorious in a grueling 3-hour encounter.
Kontaveit made a good start and was serving for the set at 5-3, but Sakkari made a brilliant comeback and broke Kontaveit’s serve twice and held all her service games to clinch the first set. The Estonian then bounced back to edge the second set in a thrilling tiebreaker. In the deciding set, it was Sakkari who made a good start as she raced to a 3-0 lead and was serving for the match at 5-2. But Kontaveit made a brilliant comeback and won the next 5 games and wrapped up the match to lift her 4th straight title at indoor tournaments.
It was yet another story of so close, yet so far for Sakkari who is not able to overcome the mental barrier to close out a tight match in finals. The Greek is one of the most improved players on tour in recent years and has solidified her status as a top-10 player. Despite all this success, she has only 1 WTA title to her name and always falters in the semis or finals. She is now has a 2-13 record in her last 15 semi-finals, the only two times she won her semis ended up with a loss to Kontaveit in the finals.
Anett Kontaveit is on a 20 match winning streak in indoor tournaments
With her win in the finals, Kontaveit extended her record for consecutive wins in indoor tournaments to 20. It is the longest streak in WTA since 2010 when Justine Henin won 22 matches in a row.
Before 2021, Kontaveit had a dismal record in the finals and had only one title to her name. Since then, she made a complete turnaround and won 6 of the 8 finals she competed in. The Estonian’s title win in St. Petersburg is her 6th title in the last seven months. Following her win, she is assured of reaching a career-high of 6th place in the latest rankings.
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T Rushitha
(360 Articles Published)