By Adrianna Outlaw | Sunday, July 26, 2015

 

Samantha Stosur rallied past Karin Knapp, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the Bad Gastein final to collect her eighth career WTA title.

Photo credit: Nurnberger Gastein Ladies

Samantha Stosur continued her red-clay roll with a comeback win.

The second-seeded Stosur fought past Karin Knapp, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the Bad Gastein final. Stosur scored her 12th victory in her last 14 clay-court matches to collect her eighth career title.

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It is Stosur's third clay-court crown. Stosur beat Sloane Stephens and Kristina Mladenovic in succession to win Strasbourg last May. Her first clay-court title came on the Har-Tru of Charleston in 2010.

Rain suspended Saturday's second semifinal, which was rescheduled for this morning. That gave Knapp the demanding assignment of trying to topple the top two seeds—and former French Open finalists—back-to-back in the span of a few hours.

The sturdy Italian nearly pulled off the feat. Knapp knocked off top-seeded Sara Errani, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5, in this morning's two hour, 37-minute semifinal, setting up the title match with Stosur.

The benefit of playing twice in one day was Knapp already had her range and rhythm on her return game. Exploiting her opponent's inability to land the first serve on big points—Stosur served just 40 percent in the first set—Knapp broke three times seizing the first set.

The downside was five hours of play, including physically-punishing rallies, took their toll on Knapp's legs by the latter stages of the final.

The 5-foot-11 Knapp didn't look too troubled by Stosur's high-bounding kick serve as she broke again in the second set. Knapp threw down a love hold to extend her second-set lead to 4-2 after one hour of play. Applying pressure with her twisting topspin forehand, Stosur saved a game point then broke to get back on serve at 4-4.

It was a short-lived reprieve. Knapp broke right back to serve for the championship at 5-4. Stosur, who stood behind the crowd scouting the Knapp-Errani semifinal earlier, targeted the Italian's backhand wing. The 2010 French Open finalist scored the third straight break for 5-5.

The 28-year-old Italian saved a set point to force the tie breaker. After an early exchange of mini breaks, Stosur took control of the center of the court. Stosur scored her second mini break for 4-3, sparking a surge of four consecutive points as she snatched the set to level the match after one hour, 42 minutes.

Growing increasingly weary and a half-step slow on wide balls, Knapp dropped serve to open the decider. Stosur backed up the break at 15, jumping out to a 2-0 lead. Navigating a challenging fourth game, Stosur held firm for 3-1.

Knapp saved a break point in the fifth game, but cracked in the seventh. Running around her backhand to lash the forehand return, Stosur scored her second break of the set, stretching her lead to 5-2. In the third set, the former world No. 4 won 13 of 17 points played on Knapp's second serve.

Stosur served it out after two hours, 28 minutes of play.