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Unseeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer captured her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title at the Estoril Open, the 13th Sony Ericsson WTA Tour International Series clay-court tournament of the year, on Saturday.
Wickmayer, a runner-up to Kateryna Bondarenko at Birmingham in June 2008, defeated sixth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 32 minutes on Central Court just before a rain-shower.
The World No. 88 is the first Belgian title-winner since former World No. 1 Justine Henin clinched the Antwerp trophy in February 2008.
“I’m really happy to have won my first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title,” said Wickmayer. “I’ve worked hard for it. I don’t really have many words to describe the feeling - I’m nearly speechless!
“I’ve been playing well for a few weeks now. I didn’t have great results, but I’ve been practicing really well. I played an amazing Fed Cup two weeks ago. So I felt this coming, not that I was going to win a title, but that I was playing well. I beat some good players this week, two or three seeded players, so I’m very happy.”
Watch Saturday's highlights of the Estoril Open women's final
The 19-year-old Deurne resident, who was making her first appearance at the Estadio Nacional this week, improved to 15-8 on the 2009 season despite hitting nine double faults and saving two of four break points. Makarova, 20, hit seven double faults and had her serve broken four times.
This week Wickmayer won back-to-back Sony Ericsson WTA Tour-level matches for the first time this year. She beat three other seeds en route to the Estoril Open final, including fifth seed Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-4 in the first round, third seed Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals and seventh seed Shahar Peer 3-0 retired (right foot injury) in the semi-finals.
Moscow resident Makarova, currently No. 43 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings, dropped to 13-8 on the year. Last week she reached her first tour-level singles final in Fes (l. to Medina Garrigues) last week.
“It was really a good tournament for me,” explained runner-up Makarova. “I wanted to win today because I lost last week in final too. Maybe I was a bit nervous today, but I’m happy to have made the final here at the Estoril Open.
“Yanina is a really good player. At the start she missed a bit, but then she played without mistakes and maybe I was waiting for her to make mistakes instead of staying aggressive. She was the better player today.”
The Estoril Open women's tournament was first contested in 1998, with Barbara Schwartz winning the inaugural singles championship.
Friday: Makarova To Meet Wickmayer In Final
Thursday: Makarova Ends Kirilenko's Title Defence
Wednesday: Top Seed Benesova Falls In Second Round
Montanes Saves 2 M.P. To Clinch Title