Chris Oddo/ Saturday, September 14, 2013
21-year-old Serb Bojana Jovanovski won her second career title at the Tashkent Open on Saturday.
Photo Source: AP
Bojana Jovanovski improved her career record in WTA finals to 2-0 with a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) victory over Olga Govortsova in the final of the Tashkent open on Saturday. The victory was Jovanovski's second third set tiebreaker in three matches (she also won one against Galina Voskoboeva in the quarterfinals) and completes an eight-day run that featured seven victories for the world No. 58.
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Jovanovski missed the tournament's cut-off date for registration and had to get through qualifying to make the main draw, and she credits the extra matches for her excellent form in the final weekend. "I've had a tough year,” said Jovanovski, alluding to back problems and wrist problems that hampered her progress after she reached the round of 16 at a major for the first time at the Australian Open this winter. “I haven't had too many matches, so it was good that I had to play the qualies.”
Jovanovski needed nearly three hours to finish off the pesky Belarusian, and she trailed Govortsova 4-2 in the final set before finally taking command. 25-year-old Govortsova, who reached both the singles and doubles finals at Taskhent, drops to 0-4 in career finals.
Govortsova, playing with Mandy Minella, also dropped the doubles final, 6-3, 6-3, to top seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova.
For her efforts, Govortsa is expected to crack the top 100 next week. The former world No. 35 entered the draw at No. 113. Jovanovski, who reached a career-high ranking of 37 this July, is expected to crack the top 45 on Monday.