German tennis player Tamara Korpatsch has celebrated her first tournament win on the WTA Tour and the biggest success of her career so far. The 28-year-old beat Romanian Elena Ruse 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the tournament in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on Sunday. She converted her first match point after 1:52 hours.
At the beginning of next week, Korpatsch will return to the top 100 of the world rankings. Earlier, the Hamburg native won the German duel with Eva Lys, who is seven years younger, 6:4, 6:3 in the semifinals. Korpatsch expressed her visibly emotional thanks to her parents after her triumph. “Thanks to my father, who is my coach and trains with me every day. And to my mother, who always supports me. I don’t know what I would do without her,” she said at the award ceremony.
In the first set, Ruse had to have her foot treated for a longer time at 3:3, after which Korpatsch managed the decisive break. Cheered on by the spectators, the Romanian fought for every point in the second set, but in the end Korpatsch won confidently in two sets. The player from Hamburg praised the audience afterwards: “It’s a wonderful atmosphere here. You guys did a great job. “
Laura Siegemund made it to the WTA finals for the first time in doubles. The 35-year-old Swabian and her Russian playing partner Wera Zwonareva won the final in Nanchang, China, on Sunday against Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya and Eri Hozumi, 6-4, 6-2. The experienced duo thus claimed their third title of the season and will be in the final tournament of the season’s best eight in Cancun, Mexico.
