Former world number one Victoria Azarenka marked her return to the WTA Tour by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat against Japan's Risa Ozaki at the Mallorca Open on Wednesday.
Azarenka, who gave birth to son Leo in December and had not played a competitive match since last year's French Open, saved three match points to win a first-round clash 6-3 4-6 7-6(7).
World number 74 Ozaki had been two breaks ahead in the third set and was serving at 5-4 when darkness descended on the Santa Ponsa lawns on Tuesday.
On the resumption, the 27-year-old Azarenka broke serve but immediately dropped her own before Ozaki moved 40-0 ahead to get to within a point of a victory.
But Belarussian Azarenka, showing her trademark grit, clawed her way back from the brink and despite trailing 5-3 in the tiebreak sealed a remarkable victory with a backhand winner.
"I'm still trying to find my range but mentally, I was there for every point. That and the experience helped me through, even at 40-0 down, I was trying to find my way out of it," wildcard Azarenka, who next plays Croatian youngster Ana Konjuh, said.
"I wouldn't say I had the best preparation coming to this tournament, but mentally, it's better to go through this kind of a match."
Top seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia was thrashed in the second round by Germany's Julia Goerges 6-1 6-2.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Gareth Jones and Ed Osmond)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Croatia's Donna Vekic came from a set down to win the
Nottingham grasscourt event in a pulsating final against Britain's
Johanna Konta on Sunday to remind the tennis world why she was once
considered one of the game's hottest prospects.
As a teenager, Vekic won her first tour tournament three
years ago but had not won one since, enduring some tough times before
this 2-6 7-6(3) 7-5 major breakthrough win over the home favourite,
world number eight Konta.
In a thrilling 2-1/2 hour contest in which momentum switched dramatically, the hard-hitting Vekic, who is still only 20, was left feeling very emotional after a second tight tussle in 24 hours following her dramatic semi-final win over Lucie Safarova.
Vekic is probably best known now as the girlfriend of Swiss three-times grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka but in 2012, when she reached her first WTA Tour final in Tashkent, the Croat was known only as a remarkable teenage prospect in the women's game.
"It's pretty amazing. The last time I played a final, I wasn't allowed to have champagne," she told the crowd, laughing. "I'm going to drink a bottle of champagne with my team to celebrate."
At 16, Vekic was runner-up in another Wimbledon warm-up event in Birmingham, prompting former champion Chris Evert to predict a top-10 career for the Croat but she has never come remotely near to those heights.
Yet with her 21st birthday coming later this month, Sunday's victory over Konta felt like the tennis coming-of-age for a player who had finished outside the top 100 in the last two seasons but who now reckons she has become older and wiser.
Konta, who had been hot favourite to annex her first grasscourt title, said: "She was able to continuously raise her level throughout that match and I was just not able to stay with her, so full credit to her for playing incredibly well."
Konta, who has won two finals already this year in Sydney and Miami, had been expected to become the first British woman to win a tournament on home soil for 36 years since Sue Barker triumphed in Brighton.
It all looked plain sailing as she outclassed the nervy world number 70 in the opening set but Vekic gradually relaxed and went for broke, finding the lines consistently with her bigger groundstrokes.
After Vekic had let a 3-1 lead slip in the deciding set, Konta appeared to be surging towards the title as she moved into a 4-3 lead but the Croatian held her nerve to break for a 6-5 lead and then served out for victory.
(Reporting by Ian Chadband; Editing by Ken Ferris)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
