TENNIS WTA Oeiras – On a sunny Saturday afternoon in Oeiras, Carla Suarez Navarro defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 3-6 6-4 to claim the 2014 Portugal Open. It was the first career title for Suarez Navarro and third time lucky here in Portugal, having lost the last two finals against Kaia Kanepi in 2012 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova last year. Joshua Bosco
On a sunny Saturday afternoon in Oeiras, Carla Suarez Navarro defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 3-6 6-4 to claim the 2014 Portugal Open.
It was the first career title for Suarez Navarro and third time lucky here in Portugal, having lost the last two finals against Kaia Kanepi in 2012 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova last year. It was the Spaniard’s first win in six finals all of which have been on clay, her favourite surface. In contrast, it was a major disappointment for Kuznetsova who was looking for her first title in nearly four years – her last victory was at the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego in August 2010.
Suarez Navarro started the match strongly, breaking the Russian in the first game to take an early lead. After missing an opportunity to go a double break up in the fifth game, the Spaniard got broken in the sixth to level the score at 3-3. It was, however, only a minor slip from Suarez Navarro who quickly recomposed herself and broke Kuznetsova back to go 4-3 up. After saving four break points in the next game, Suarez Navarro relaxed a little and managed to close the set in the 10th game, winning it 6-4 in 46 minutes.
The second set started with the players twice exchanging breaks in the opening four games before Kuznetsova finally managed a hold in the fifth game to go ahead in a set for the first time in the match. After saving a break point when serving on 3-3, the Russian then broke Suarez Navarro to serve for the set 5-3 up. Kuznetsova didn’t waste the opportunity and seized the set with her first set point, levelling the match at 1-1 and forcing a decider.
The third set started with three breaks before Kuznetsova finally held to go 3-1 up. She then got another break to put herself in a seemingly comfortable position on 4-1. Suarez Navarro had other ideas and won the next four games to force the Russian to serve to stay in a match that, just 20 minutes earlier, had seemed hers. It just wasn’t meant to be for Kuznetsova, who played a disappointing service game and handed Suarez Navarro her first ever WTA title with a 6-4 3-6 6-4 win in 2h 7m.
Carla Suarez Navarro has climbed up one spot in the rankings, surpassing Caroline Wozniacki, and now sits at World No.14 while Kuznetsova also gained a spot overtaking Andrea Petkovic at World No.28.
Both players will now head to Spain for the Madrid Open, where they’ll compete next week: No.14 seed Suarez Navarro will face Yvonne Meusburger in the first round, before taking on either Kanepi or Riske in a possible second round ahead of a killer matchup with World No.1 Serena Williams in the third. Kuznetsova, on the other hand, was drawn in the bottom half where she will meet Frenchwoman Alize Cornet in the first round. Should she pass this difficult test, her most probable opponent in the second will be an even tougher prospect, No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
