Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania won the Warsaw Open for the second year in succession, defeating Zheng Jie of China 6-3 6-4 in the final.
Romanian successfully defends her only title to date
Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania won the Warsaw Open for the second year in succession, defeating Zheng Jie of China 6-3 6-4 in the final.
The world number 32 made her breakthrough on the WTA tour 12 months ago when reaching the final as a qualifier, before beating Alona Bondarenko to lift her first and only title to date.
Dulgheru clearly has a liking for the tournament, as she defeated seventh seed Kataryna Bondarenko earlier in the week before knocking out third-ranked Li Na in the semis.
Li's fifth-seeded compatriot Zheng stood in the way of back-to-back wins for the Romanian, but she proved unstoppable again as she came through in straight sets.
She quickly opened up a 5-2 lead before Zheng got a break back, but Dulgheru, who turns 21 in a week's time, immediately hit back to take the lead.
Zheng was quicker out of the blocks in the second set as she broke for a 4-2 advantage, but that was as good as it got for the world number 26 as Dulgheru reeled off the next four games.
"Fatigue was starting to affect me and my opponent was very strong," said the champion. "But I managed to compose myself, which allowed me to win the last four games.
"I was also helped by the positive emotions that accompanied me here, where I won last year."
