Maria Sanchez battles past Galina Voskoboeva for title victory – Hansol Korea Open 2011
World number 32, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain bagged her second WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) championship title of the year, defeating the 65thranked, Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan, in the final of the
Hansol Korea Open on Sunday afternoon.
The enthralling contest was staged on the outdoor hard courts of the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul, South Korea, with the Spaniard bagging the fifth single title of her career in straight sets 7-6(0), 7-6(2).
Unseeded Voskoboeva was playing her first ever WTA final and hung in the competition for two hours and two minutes before submitting to the sixth seeded Spanish opponent. The Kazakh has been in sublime form throughout the tournament,
registering two upset victories against the eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova and the fifth seed Polona Hercog in the initial rounds. Voskoboeva competed valiantly in the Sunday’s final but failed to take the pressure in the intense moments of the game to finish
on the losing side in the end.
It was the first ever championship victory for Sanchez on the hard courts. She had featured five WTA clay-court finals prior to coming to Seoul and was victorious in four of them. She proved her brilliance on the hard courts of
Seoul this time and wrapped up the two sets in the tie breaker rounds to lift the trophy.
“I felt very calm in the tie-breaks. That was the key for me,” Sanchez said in her post match reviews. “I felt I played well the whole match. I like coming to net and I think it also makes my opponents uncomfortable, so it works
well. But Galina played well - this was my toughest match of the week. I had to fight until the end. I can't say how happy I am to win my first hard-court title. Rafael Nadal, Feliciano Lopez, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco... they are the golden age of
Spanish tennis right now. But the women players are also working very hard.”
The two contestants traded three serve breaks each in the matchup, as both sets were decided in the tie breaker rounds. Sanchez reeled off 32 out of 45 first serve points, while her opponent lagged behind with 22 points to finish
on the losing side in the end.
The Spaniard’s victory on Sunday levelled her head-to-head series against the Kazakh opponent at 1-1, as she suffered a defeat against Voskoboeva in Athens in 2008.
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