ITF Women’s Open: Darja Seministaja adds singles title to doubles triumph

BENGALURU: Darja Semenistaja lived up to her top billing as she annexed the ITF Women’s Open crown, steamrolling an error-prone sixth seed Carole Monnet in the final played at the KSLTA Stadium here on Sunday. The Latvian after breezing past 6-1 in the first set was leading 3-0 in the second set when her French rival threw in the towel owing to a back injury.

This was the 21-year-old Darja’s 15th ITF title overall, which she made more memorable by winning the doubles title as well on Saturday.

“I am feeling very happy to take two titles home. I think Bengaluru is lucky for me,” said Darja who took home the winner’s cheque of US $ 6094 while earning 50 WTA points each for her singles and doubles victory. Carole won the runner-up cheque for US $ 3257 while earning 33 WTA points for her effort.

The Sunday crowd which had gathered in sizable numbers was expecting a closely fought affair, considering the epic battles the contestants had won in their respective previous rounds. Perhaps the exhaustion came into play when it mattered the most.

After two early breaks in the first and the third game, the top seed was cruising at 3-0 when Carole showed signs of a comeback and broke her opponent’s serve in the 4th game. However, the rush of form was short-lived as Darja, who would probably get a significant jump in her current ranking of 142 in the world, took advantage of the error-prone rival to win the next three games and the first set 6-1.

In the second set too, Darja with a break in the second led 3-0 when Carole took a medical break to attend to her nagging back ache. However, she was 15-40 in the fourth game when she could not take the pain anymore and retired.

Results (pre-fix indicates seeding):

Singles finals|: 1-Darja Semenistaja (LAT) bt 6-Carole Monnet (FRA) 6-1, 3-0 (retd).