By IANS
Kolkata : Fourth seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia won the third edition of the Sunfeast Open tennis tournament in style, defeating Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine 6-0, 6-2 in the final here Sunday.
In the one-sided match, Kirilenko not only grounded the unseeded surprise finalist Koryttseva in two straight sets, but also gave her a few lessons in tennis as she clinched her second singles title.
After the match Kirilenko said: “It’s been a great week. I didn’t expect the final to be so easy, but I had three hard games. I am thankful for all the support I got. I will come back here next year.”
In the final that lasted little more than an hour, Koryttseva not only found it difficult to tackle the whiplash forehands from Kirilenko but also her agility and court presence. No matter where she placed the ball, the Russian was there.
In the you-blink-and-its-gone first set, Kirilenko broke Koryttseva in the second, fourth and sixth games. The last point that gave her the first set was extra special. After setting up Koryttseva with a barrage of forehands to the right corner of the court, she let go a backhand with loads of backspin. Koryttseva lunged a return that fell wide as expected.
The Ukrainian broke Kirilenko in the first game of the second set with a couple of passing shots and then held her own. But Kirilenko took the next six games including three breaks to win the WTA tier III tournament.
Koryttseva was gracious in defeat and said: “She showed me some nice shots. I will study them and try them. I made too many errors. The muscle was also a little stiff affecting my backhand. But that is no excuse. I lost to a great player.”
While Kirilenko goes to Seoul from here, Koryttseva heads for Tashkent.