Slovenian fifth seed Dalila Jakupovic has won the ACT Claycourt International #1 after defeating Australia’s Destanee Aiava in tough conditions at the Canberra Tennis Centre on Sunday.
With gusty wind and rain forcing play to be suspended twice, Jakupovic kept her calm and proved too good for the unseeded Australian, prevailing 6-4 6-4.
“It was very hard because every point was different, you didn’t know if it was going to be windy or sunny or rain, you didn’t know, and tossing the ball for my serve was hard. So yeah even between the points you don’t know, if you hit it too hard maybe it flies with the wind out so it was very hard today.”
The singles title caps off a wonderful week for the 26-year-old Slovenian, who did not drop a set the whole tournament. She also took out the doubles title on Friday alongside Australian Priscilla Hon.
With three consecutive breaks of serve to start off the final, Jakupovic took a 4-2 lead before play was suspended for ten minutes due to rain.
After recommencing play, Aiava broke back, equalising the scores at 4-4. But it was Jakupovic and her drop shots which proved too good, with the current World No.170 taking out the first set 6-4.
Jakupovic then led 1-0 at the start of the second set before play was again suspended for 40 minutes due to the rain. The multiple interruptions did not seem to affect the quality of the shots or the players themselves, although both the balls and court were heavy upon play recommencing.
It was the Slovenian who started off the better of the two, going out to a 3-0 lead. But Aiava was not going down without a fight, with the 17-year-old breaking Jakupovic’s serve to level up 3-3.
Jakupovic knew she had to regain the momentum to stay in the set.
“She played very well from 3-0 down and yeah I just said ‘just fight continue fighting and hopefully you will make it’ and I made it so I was very happy but it was not easy, she played very good today also with the conditions.”
The Slovenian kept hitting drop shots to Aiava and moved her around the court, something which paid off, with the fifth seed holding serve and eventually taking out the second set 6-4.
Jakupovic has now won five singles titles, remarkably all on clay. She will now head to Mexico, where she has a WTA tournament staring next week.
The ACT Claycourt International #2 main draw starts on Tuesday, headlined by Gabriella Taylor (GBR), Eri Hozumi (JPN). Australians Zoe Hives, Jaimee Fourlis and local hopes Alison Bai and Annerly Poulos.
Entry into the Canberra Tennis Centre is free with a gold coin donation on finals weekend.
Draws and order of play available here
Live scoring for is available here
Latest
ACT