Anabel Medina Garrigues slays Kristina Barrois to lift the Estoril Open trophy
World number 42, Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain captured her first WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) title of the running year by defeating Kristina Barrois of Germany in the final of the Estoril Open at the Estadio Nacional in
Oeiras, Portugal on Saturday. The Spanish cruised through the contest to register her assertive straight sets victory at 6-1, 6-2, to extend her WTA career title count to ten.
The 28-year-old Spaniard finally avenged her defeat from Barrois, in Strasbourg two years ago when Garrigues had to retire after losing the opening set. Garrigues faced limited resistance from the German opponent in the contest
and dropped just three games in the entire matchup. She crafted 12 opportunities to break the opponent’s serve and cashed in half of them, while Barrois converted just one of her three break chances in the game.
Barrois’ surprising run at Estoril Open finally ended in the final, as she failed to put up a competitive performance against the Spaniard. The German had upset the sixth seed Elena Vesnina and the top seed Alisa Kleybanova in
the initial rounds to make it to the final but a dreadful performance led her down in the big match. Her magnificent one-handed backhand and mighty serve just didn’t click in the Saturday’s clash, costing him championship.
“I played very aggressively and hit it high and deep. Kristina couldn’t do her game,” Garrigues told after winning the title, “She’s a creative girl - serve and volley, slice, drop shots - and I was there. I felt like she lost
her concentration a little bit. I think I played well this week. I had some lucky moments, like in the first round I was close to losing a set, and I had a close match with Zakopalova. It wasn’t as easy as it looked this week and I'm happy to win my 10th title.”
Garrigues remained unbroken in the opener, while belting three cracking serve breaks to take the upper hand in the contest. She clinched 11 of 14 first serve points with her accurate stroke play and aggressive maneuvers throughout
the competition. The bleak German opponent submitted the first set to her superior opponent at 1-6, hoping to do better in the next.
Barrois found no luck in the following set as well and suffered three more serve breaks from the Spaniard. She registered her only break point in the second set but couldn’t contain the aggression of Garrigues. The Spaniard claimed
the championship at 6-2, finishing the contest in the most assertive manner.
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