Katerina Siniakova saved three match points on her way to a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) marathon comeback win to claim victory on Sunday at the WTA Nanchang event in China, the fifth of her career.
Siniakova defeated fellow Czech Marie Bouzkova after three and a half hours on court; the epic was the first final of the season to pass the three-hour mark .
The 60th-ranked unseeded winner, losing finalist last week in Hong Kong, fought back from break down in the final two sets to earn a second trophy this season after Bad Homburg in June.
It was the first final between Czechs since 2021, when Barbora Krejcikova beat Tereza Martincova at home in Prague.
Siniakova saved a match point in the second set as her turnaround hit stride as the set went to a tiebreaker, which finally ended after eight set points and lasted for nearly one and three-quarter hours.
After levelling at a set apiece, Siniakova again fought off disaster in the third, trailing 5-3 and saving an additional pair of Bouzkova match points.
Siniakova came from a min-break down in the decider to pull away for the hard-fought win.
