By Chris Oddo | Sunday February 21, 2016
Francesca Schiavone has not made many waves on the WTA Tour of late, but the 35-year-old was back with a vengeance this week in Rio, saving a match point en route to her seventh WTA title, and first since 2013.
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Schiavone, who saved a match point in her quarterfinal win over Cindy Burger of the Netherlands, came back from a set down to defeat American Shelby Rogers in Sunday's final, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
After dropping five games consecutively to fall a set and a break down, Schiavone rallied to win 12 of the final 15 games.
Rogers tried to snuff the Italian’s momentum early in the third set but could only do so temporarily. The players were on serve in the third set until Schiavone broke and held at love in back-to-back games to take a 5-2 lead.
Rogers, playing in her second career final, battled hard in the next game, but Schiavone converted her second match point to secure the victory.
Schiavone had her victory speech prepared in Portuguese, and when she read it she broke into tears at the microphone. The 2011 French Open champion will return to the top-100 as a result of the title.