Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova won her first career WTA title with a 3-6 7-6 7-5 victory over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the final of the Kremlin Cup.
World number 20 had lost in the final in her last three tournaments
Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova won her first career WTA title with a 3-6 7-6 7-5 victory over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the final of the Kremlin Cup.
Cibulkova had reached the final in her last three tournaments including last week in Linz, where she lost to Petra Kvitova.
Kanepi broke Cibulkova in the fourth game of the first set to go 4-1 up and was close to breaking her again at 5-5 in the second to serve for the match, but she smashed a volley wide in front of an empty court.
The Slovakian then raced through the tiebreaker for the loss of just a solitary point to keep the match alive. She broke decisively in the 11th game of the third set and sealed the win on her first match point when Kanepi returned wide.
"This is the first time I've won my title, this is kind of my premiere," Cibulkova said. "I've played great tennis through the whole of the week."
"I was just playing too defensive in the first set. In the second set I said, 'Hey, come on, you have nothing to lose.' And I started to go more on forehand and to be more aggressive and that's why I won."
Cibulkova had earlier upset top-seed and local favorite Vera Zvonareva in the second round.
The 43rd-ranked Kanepi was making her debut at the event and beat two seeded players - 2009 champion Francesca Schiavone and two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova - to reach her first final of the season.
"Definitely I'm disappointed but I'm staying positive about my game," said Kanupi.
The eighth-seeded Cibulkova is the first women's player to win a maiden title in Moscow since the tournament began in 1994.
