Nottingham [UK], June 13 (ANI): Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil notched the first WTA singles title of her career with a victory over Alison Riske in the Nottingham Open final on Sunday. Haddad Maia also won the doubles title alongside Zhang Shuai.
The No.7 seed from Brazil defeated No.6 seed Alison Riske of the United States 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the final.
Haddad Maia, currently ranked at a career-high World No.48, fought back from an early break down in the third set before prevailing after 2 hours and 18 minutes in her first meeting with Riske.
The Brazilian improves to 1-1 in WTA singles finals, having previously finished as runner-up to Jelena Ostapenko at 2017 Seoul. Riske is now 3-10 in the WTA singles finals.
“It’s an amazing week, I couldn’t expect a better start on grass,” Haddad Maia said afterwards as per wtatennis.com. “I was just fighting, I was just pushing myself every single point, every single match.”
“Grass is a special moment, we don’t have a lot of tournaments on grass, so it’s time to improve and be aggressive. On grass courts, it’s better to do that, so I will just keep doing that for my [doubles final], and after the doubles, next week in Birmingham, Eastbourne, and Wimbledon,” she added.
Earlier in the week, Haddad Maia had knocked top seed Maria Sakkari out in the quarterfinals, which was the left-hander’s fifth consecutive win in her last five meetings against Top 5 players.
Haddad Maia went on to win the doubles title later on Sunday as well. She and Zhang Shuai, the No.1 seeds, defeated No.4 seeds Caroline Dolehide and Monica Niculescu 7-6(2), 6-3 in a 1-hour and 27-minute doubles final.
Haddad Maia and Zhang teamed up for the first time this week. Haddad Maia has now won four career doubles titles, and this is her second of the year. Zhang is up to 12 career doubles titles, and this is her first of the season. (ANI)