Maria Sakkari edged Johanna Konta 2-6 6-4 6-1 to win her first WTA title in Rabat on an emotional day for the Greek.
A hard-fought win for Sakkari meant she became the first Greek champion on the WTA tour since Lena Daniilidou in 2008.
Although Konta was a set and a break up, she wad denied her first clay-court title by the crafty yet powerful Sakkari who entered the winners circle.
Both players now have a quick turnaround as they are on Sunday’s schedule in Madrid.
It wasn’t the greatest of starts for Sakkari as she failed to deal with Konta’s pace and accuracy early on as the Brit got the break early on.
Another break soon followed for the former Wimbledon semi-finalist as she aimed to win the first clay-court title of her career.
Even though Sakkari improved her intensity a little bit at the end of the set, the world number 47 wrapped up the set in 33 minutes.
The second set saw Konta retain her focus and level as she broke for a 3-2 lead in the second set as her clinical form saw her in control.
However Sakkari still had a lot left to give in this match and grinded out points to try and exhaust the powerful Brit as games went to Deuce and beyond.
A physical end to the set saw the Greek battle to two late breaks of serve as she eventually secured the second set to level the match.
It was clear that Konta wasn’t prepared to engage into that type of physicality as she slowly conceded the match to Sakkari.
A final set which was dominated by Sakkari ended on a sensational match point as she won five games in a row to clinch a historic WTA title.
https://twitter.com/WTA/status/1124707988671852544
It’s a week Konta can be proud of despite the gutting loss as she closes in on the top 40 in the world but today belonged to Maria Sakkari.
Both now have to prepare for their first round matches in Madrid tomorrow, where Konta plays Alison Riske while Sakkari takes on Carla Suarez Navarro.
