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.
Doping sanction victim Simona Halep has gone online to protest her own treatment by anti-doping…
Rafael Nadal lined up for what was to be the final match of his career…
Jannik Sinner took charge in front of his home crowd on Sunday, crushing ATP Finals…
Daniil Medvedev went into meltdown mode on Sunday during a highly charged 6-4, 6-3 loss, with opponent…
Jannik Sinner could well be missing from the opening European clay event of next season…
Rafael Nadal will bring down the curtain on his career next month as he plays his…