MADRID, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-sixth seed Marta Kostyuk claimed the biggest title of her career on Saturday, defeating ninth seed Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 to win the women's crown at the Madrid Open.
Kostyuk celebrated with a backflip on court, capping a performance that extended her winning streak on clay to 12 matches and built on her recent WTA 250 title in Rouen, France.
The Ukrainian broke the Russian's serve for 3-2 in the first set and served it out. She then kept her composure in a topsy-turvy second set that featured five service breaks. Andreeva led 3-1 before Kostyuk won four of the next five games, saved two set points on her own serve at 4-5, and then closed out the match 7-5.
Kostyuk converted all four break points she created, and dropped only one set in the entire tournament.
Speaking to the press afterward, Kostyuk admitted she was surprised by her run. "If you look at the stats, up until last year I think I was like 2-7 in Madrid. I never thought I would be able to lift the title here," she said.
"It took me many years to reach this point, and one word I think about right now is consistency. It shows up every day, no matter how hard it is, no matter how much you love or hate what you do," Kostyuk said. "I'm very proud of myself and my team." Enditem
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