The last two WTA tournaments before the WTA FInals at Linz, Germany and Tianjin, China, concluded this weekend. Both the tournaments threw up unexpected winners with Cori Guaff winning at Linz and Rebecca Peterson at Tianjin. This marked Cori Gauff’s first WTA title, while Rebecca Peterson added a second to her first title a few weeks back at Nanchang, China.
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Gauff Rides Her Luck to Win First Title
Gauff’s week turned from disappointment to pure jubilation after lifting her maiden WTA title. She was ineligible for a wildcard entry since she already had two of them this year and the 15-year-old then lost in her qualifying round to Tamara Korpatsch. But, as luck would have it, she was designated as the “lucky loser”, after another player pulled out due to injury.
The Americans luck lasted a bit longer when her opponent in the quarterfinals, Kateryna Kozlova, retired with injury, after winning the first set. That was all the luck Gauff needed though, as she then went on to beat top-seed Kiki Bertens in the quarterfinals 7-6(1), 6-4. This was also the first top-10 win of her career.
She followed this with a victory over Andrea Petkovic, having saved nine of ten break points.
The final saw Gauff face the 2017 French Open champion, Jelena Ostapenko. Ostapenko has failed to sustain the level she displayed in 2017 and 2018, but she was up for the battle on Saturday after signing up with Marion Bartoli as coach. After splitting the first two sets, Gauff took the deciding set to win the match 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
Gauff already had good news coming her way even before she won the title. Having made the semifinals, her ranking shot up from No. 110 to No. 80 in the world. This meant she would directly qualify for the main draw of the next slam Australian Open.
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Peterson Captures Second WTA Career Title in Matter of Weeks
Rebecca Peterson of Sweden is on cloud 9 after lifting the second WTA title of her career. She faced Heather Watson of Britain in the final, whom she beat in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. The 22-year-old is in the best form of her life having just won the title at the Nanchang event in September.
Watson had a endure a dismal season until the past week; she had just one main draw win at the WTA level in 2019. This changed in the past week when she found her form again to reach the final. She defeated second-seed Wang Qiang and the Bronx open winner Magda Linette.
The final was delayed due to rain, forcing the two players to wait through a five-hour wait. The rain returned again during the warm-up and so the final was finally shifted to an indoor court. The Brit managed to start off the match quite well with a break to go 2-0 up.
She did so again in the second set, however, both times Peterson fought back to win the match 6-4, 6-4. The victory means that the Swede, currently ranked No. 59, will now jump into the top-40 for a career-best ranking in the coming week.
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