Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova won her second career title after securing the Pattaya Open title on Sunday. Makarova outlasted Karoline Pliskova of Czech Republic in a tight two setter 63 76. The Russian thought it would go to a third set after missing chances in the second set tiebreaker.
“I was a little bit angry in the tie-break because she served really well twice and then returned one just on the line, and then it was 5-all again,” Makarova said. “Then I missed an easy ball, and it was set point – luckily she hit her first double fault of the match then. But she had another set point after that and I just tried to keep playing everything in the court and be aggressive at the same time.
“Of course, I’m really happy I could win today. It was a nervous ending and a really tough match, and she was playing really great tennis today. She was serving especially well. I needed to be very focused on my returns to make the points. This is my second WTA title, so I’m really happy about it.”
Pliskova still had a great week, having upset seventh seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands and number three seed Sorana Cirstea. The Czech won her maiden title last year in Kuala Lumpur.
“I think she played better than me the whole match,” Pliskova said of the tournament champion. “The last two matches I won from two match points down and from 0-3 in the third, so I just tried to stay in the match in the second set and just tried to fight, because I thought it might happen again. But in the end it didn’t.
“I was really close to getting it to a third set but she was playing too well today. And I was feeling tired in the second set already – so I don’t know what the third set would have been like anyway.”
