16-year-old Clara Tauson wins third straight pro title in Xiamen
The 16-year-old Dane Clara Tauson has been on a stellar run so far in 2019, winning J1 Traralgon and the Australian Open to become junior world no. 1 and conquering back-to-back pro events in Monastir and Shenzhen. Playing above W15 level for the first time in her short pro career, super talented Dane went all the way in China to secure the third professional title and earn the first WTA points after significant changes that hit professional tennis at the end of 2018. Shenzhen was only the seventh pro event for Clara in a career and she had proven her quality once again, scoring five wins over more experienced rivals for the biggest success so far.
Staying in China for another week, Clara entered W15 event in Xiamen and delivered another title, the third in a row on the pro level for a 27-2 score in singles in 2019 in both junior and pro matches! The youngster defeated four rivals in straight sets to advance into the final where she beat the Chinese teenager Meiqi Guo there to wrap up another great week and walk away with the trophy in her hands. Free until Wednesday, Clara had time to recover from the previous week's action and kicked off the campaign with a 6-1, 7-5 win over the American Sebastiani Leon in an hour and 24 minutes, taking 12 out of 15 points on the second serve to suffer just two breaks, scoring five on the other side to perform a great escape in set number two.
Clara raced into a 5-0 lead to claim the opener in no time at all but had to work much harder in set number two, falling 5-0 behind before rattling off seven straight games to prevail in straight sets and save energy for the next encounters. The 5th seed YeXin Ma fell in the second round 6-4, 6-2 after an hour and 39 minutes, with Tauson breaking her six times and control the pace all the time. They stayed neck and neck in the opening set until game ten when Clara broke for a 6-4, securing four straight breaks in set number two to march into the quarter-final. There, Tauson was mighty impressive against the Japanese Himeno Sakatsume 6-0, 6-3 in 72 minutes, getting broken only once and delivering five breaks for the upper hand.
The Dane grabbed a 6-0, 3-0 advantage in no time at all, losing the next three games to bring Sakatsume back into contention before crossing the finish line with a strong finish for the place in the semis in the sixth out of eight pro tournaments she has played so far. Playing better and better as the event progressed, Clara toppled the 3rd seed Eudice Wong Chong 6-2, 6-1 in 76 minutes to reach the final, giving serve away twice and dominating on the return to notch six breaks from ten opportunities and sail into the title match. Tauson's win was never in doubt after three good return games in each set to set Meiqi Guo clash for the third straight title in 2019.
After an hour and 43 minutes, Clara prevailed 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, with five breaks in total on both sides and just two points more than her rival. Guo clinched the opening set with breaks in games one and seven and Clara raised her level in set number two, earning a break in game six to take the set 6-3 with a hold at love in game nine, becoming the favorite before the decider. The Dane was on a roll now, forging a 4-0 lead and wrapping up the match and the title with a hold at love in game eight, continuing her impressive run in 2019 and standing out as the one to watch in the rest of the season.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2FsXjSl
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