A year ago, she lost a marathon three hour, 14 minute match against Daniela Hantuchova in the final. This year, she went one step further. Russia’s Maria Kirilenko prevailed in a two-hour, 37 minute match against Germany’s Sabine Lisicki to clinch the PTT Pattaya Open title on Sunday.
The second-seeded Kirilenko won with a 57 61 76(1) score against her opponent.
“I feel great – to win a title is always special, but it’s even more pleasure when you win such a tough one,” Kirilenko said.
“It was tough. Sabine played very well. I’m very happy to win this title,” she added.
This is Kirilenko’s sixth WTA singles title. She’s won four of those in Asia.
Despite the loss, Lisicki remained upbeat about her performance at the tournament.
“I hadn’t been in a final in a while, so even though it’s a tough one to lose, I still feel very good about my week,” Lisicki said.
“I played some good tennis here. I was working so hard in the off-season and it’s nice to see it’s already paying off, especially since we’re just at the start of the year right now. In a final it’s always two players who are playing well, so it’s never going to be easy. It was such a close match and I had chances to win, but I just didn’t take them. I’ll learn a lot though,” she added.
The doubles event was won by Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm and Australia’s Casey Dellacqua.
