On Sunday, the American won her 5th match of the week and captured her first Volvo Car Open Championship beating qualifier Elena Vesnina, 7-6, 6-2.
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Angelique Kerber of Germany, talks with trainers during a timeout in her tennis match against Sloane Stephens in the semifinals at the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, S.C., Saturday, April 9, 2016. The second-ranked German star was not her best, but good enough to put away Kucova.
She let three match points disappear in the contest’s final game before Vesnina hit her service return wide to secure the match.
Stephens, who was 1-5 in Charleston before this week, had two straight-set wins to open the tournament and then saved a match point against rising Russian teen Daria Kasatkina in the quarter-finals.
“They keep asking me back to the tournament even though I only won one match in six years”, an upbeat Stephens said in her post-match victory speech. Ever since, Kerber has found her rhythm and defeated her past two opponents by identical scores.
“Just go out and play and have fun because, I mean, it’s just another week”, Stephens said she told herself.
” I think I’m getting used to the clay”.
Begu did not appear to be at her best following a hard Round of 16 clash against Monica Puig which was decided by a third set tie-break under the lights on Thursday. Ranked 61st in the world, she entered the match with a 3-14 record all-time against players in the top 20. The victory in Charleston, where she was the seventh seed, was her first clay-court title.
Russian qualifier Vesnina beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino of Spain 6-1, 6-3, setting up match-up with Germany’s Laura Siegemund, who topped Mirijana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 7-5, 6-2.
It is Vesnina’s first final since 2013 and she said: “I had some great memories from being in that final five years ago, and I knew that I can do that again”.
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Fifth-seeded Italian Sara Errani advanced to a meeting with Putintseva, downing Australian Samantha Stosur 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
