Timea Babos knocks out Elita Kostova to win William Loud Bendigo International
Timea Babos, the Hungarian professional tennis player, has been turning heads at the William Loud Bendigo International tournament all week. In the second round of the tennis event, the 17 year old player defeated the top seed and defending champion World
Number 90 Alicia Molik, in three sets. Yesterday, she managed to take away the crown for the event with her defeat of Bulgarian professional player Elitsa Kostova.
Babos, who is currently World Number 332 on the Women's Tennis Association charts, defeated Kostova (who is ranked a hundred spots above her) in three sets, showing immense power and talent. Her aggressive spirit and defensive style of play helped her to
score a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over the Bulgarian in the women’s final.
Babos has had victory at four singles tournaments and two doubles titles, and this was another important win for her. She said after the match, “Elitsa’s a big fighter and she’s a really good player so it was a really tough game. In the first set, she played
amazing tennis, but I was trusting more in my conditioning.”
Babos also talked about how she felt she had proved something to the spectators with her success, saying, “I think i showed everyone this week that I have one of the best conditioning and that I’m probably the biggest fighter here.” In addition to this,
she shared her strategy for the tournament, saying, “The basics for me just were to stay in the game, stay in the match and try to just get it to go longer and longer.”
The Hungarian player got off to a bad start at the beginning of the match, making many unforced errors which culminated in her dropping the first service game. While things were not going Babos’ way in the first round, Kostova played excellent tennis by
standing out as a superlative player, serving powerful shots and returns. She even managed to break Babos’ serve twice, and took away the first set 6-3.
However, Babos did not give Kostova any advantage in the next set. The 17 year old picked up her game and began to control most of the play. Her serve also improved significantly, and began to take chances with her shots to challenge her opponent. On the
other hand, the tables had turned on Kostova, who committed a number of uncharacteristic errors. Consequently, Babos took away the early break in the second set.
However, her advantage did not last long either. Kostova broke her once again in the ninth game, and pushed her lead out to 5-4. It seemed as if she would take the title, until Babos returned to form and and ran down each ball in the last two games, and
took the final set at 7-5.
This singles title is an impressive end to the week for the teenage player. She also managed to take the women’s doubles title with Melanie South of Great Britain. Babos says, “It was a fantastic week for me. I beat so many good players and I also won the
doubles, so it was the best end to finish the year.”
In addition to this, she also seemed elated with her stay at Bendigo, praising the courts and facilities. She says, “It was the best week for me, not just tennis wise but also just being here.”
Babos added, comparing Hungary’s 9 courts to the ones at Bendigo, “The 30 courts here were fantastic, because it meant we could always practice and always warm up. It wasn’t just the tennis I enjoyed. The lake and the area around the courts was really fantastic.”
Tags: