Kontaveit beats Vikhlyantseva in Den Bosch to win first ever WTA title
Anett Kontaveit secured the first WTA title of her career at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships on Sunday with a straight-sets win over Natalia Vikhlyantseva.
It took the Estonian just 73 minutes to end a spirited run from Vikhlyantseva in ‘s-Hertogenbosch as she claimed a 6-2 6-3 victory in her second final of the year.
Kontaveit took her time to settle into Sunday’s showpiece as Vikhlyantseva – who had beaten Andrea Petkovic and Ana Konjuh on her way to the final – pressured her early on, but battled defiantly to save three break chances.
She quickly turned that pressure onto her opponent and, after holding for a 2-1 lead, won three of the next four games before earning the double break to move one set up.
Losing her serve early in the second set did not fluster the 21-year-old as she once again finished with a flourish, her groundstrokes just too good for Vikhlyantseva – the Russian firing long to hand the title to Kontaveit.
FIRST #WTA Title!
Anett Kontaveit captures @RicohOpen title!
Defeats Vikhlyantseva 6-2, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/0P6KzFvF1G
— WTA (@WTA) June 18, 2017
“I’m just so excited!” Kontaveit said after the match.
“I thought I played a great match and congrats to Natalia for a great week – I hope we’ll have more battles. It’s been amazing for me, I had really tough matches and I’m so happy to be through them – to win the final, it’s amazing.”
