(April 7th, 2013) -- Russian
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova kept her perfect record intact at the Monterrey Open in Mexico as she claimed her third title there on Sunday.
Facing Germany's
Angelique Kerber in the finals, Pavlyuchenkova was forced to battle back when Kerber secured the first set and stayed even with the Russian at 2-all in the second.
Pavlyuchenkova then reeled off nine games in a row to not only take the second set but leap out to a 5-0 lead in the third set. But the Russian couldn't close it out as quickly as she wanted to, and that allowed Kerber to pull within a game for 5-4.
Finally, on her fifth match point, Pavlyuchenkova hit a forehand winner to claim the 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win and with it her third title. She also keeps her now perfect 15-0 match win record at the event intact.
"It was amazing to beat a player like her, a Top 10 player. I beat her the other time we played, but that was in the quarterfinals, and it's even tougher and even more special to do it in a final," said Pavlyuchenkova to WTA.com. "I left it all on the court and I'm so happy it paid off."
Pavlyuchenkova has now won Monterrey three times in 2010, 2011 and now 2013. This is her fourth career title.