27 March 2016 | Tennis ACT

Top seed Miyu Kato (JPN) has defeated qualifier Anna Bondar (HUN) 6-4, 7-6 to win the ACT Claycourt International #2 at the Canberra Tennis Centre.

Kato got off to a great start, securing an early break and moving out to a 3-1 lead. She held onto the break, closing out the first set 6-4. The second set started with consecutive breaks, before remaining on serve for the remainder of the set. At 4-4, Kato had the chance to secure the break when she went up 15-40. A couple of nervous points from Kato, saw Bondar hold serve to move ahead 5-4.

With Kato serving to stay in the set, the next game saw Bondar hold two set points. Kato responded, and after some lengthy rallies, fought back to hold serve. The second set moved into a tiebreak, and again it was Kato who went ahead early. Holding a 6-3 lead, Kato only need one match point to close out the match and win her third ITF title.

After a disappointing week last week, where she lost in the second round of both singles and doubles, Kato enjoyed a great week in Canberra, winning the singles title, and making the final of the doubles. Kato will now return to Japan to play in the $25,000 ITF event in Kofu, before preparing for French Open qualifying in May.

Final tournament draws for ACT Claycourt International #2 can be found here

A recap of ACT Claycourt International #1 can be found here

Pro tour action will return to Canberra in November with the 2016 Canberra International.

The ACT Claycourt International #1 and #2 were held at the Canberra Tennis Centre from March 12-27. Each tournament offered $25,000 in prizemoney and were held on the recently redeveloped European clay courts.

The tournaments were announced in May, 2015 as part of the Tennis ACT calendar of events secured through the redevelopment of the Canberra Tennis Centre.

The redeveloped Canberra Tennis Centre features 28 tennis courts – including synthetic grass, Italian clay and hardcourt surfaces – as well as four ANZ Tennis Hot Shots courts.

For more information about the Australian Pro Tour visit tennis.com.au/protour