Roberta Vinci claimed the LTA $75k tournament in Shrewsbury on Sunday, defeating Maret Ani 7-5 7-5.
Vinci, the tournament No.7 seed and Ani, the No.2 seed have practiced together at the Welti Tennis Centre all week, so not surprisingly, the final was a close-fought match with long baseline rallies a feature.
Both players had tough semifinals on Saturday, Ani defeating young British hope Laura Robson, 6-2 3-6 6-0, and Vinci beating Kristina Barrois 6-4 5-7 6-4. But while there were few signs of fatigue for Ani, Vinci took time to find her range in the first set, conceding an early break to her Estonian opponent, courtesy of a flurry of unforced errors, to trail 1-4.
The Italian put in a more consistent performance in the sixth game, winning her serve to love for 2-4. Games continued with serve until it came time for Ani to serve for the set, leading 5-3.
In three meetings, in Latinas and Poitiers in 2003 and in Rimini in 2008, Ani has never taken a set from her more lowly-ranked opponent and, as Vinci broke to 15 to get the match back on serve 4-5, it became apparent that history was going to repeat itself.
As Vinci served to level things, Ani seemingly regained her nerve to earn herself a set point at 30-40. Her resurgence was short lived however, and the pinpoint accuracy of Vinci’s ground strokes soon saw the match locked up at 5-5.
The momentum now clearly in Vinci’s favour she broke Ani’s serve to love to lead 6-5, and had little hesitation in taking the opportunity to serve out the set 7-5.
Games went with serve at the start of the second set and it wasn’t until the sixth game that Ani made some headway, breaking to lead 4-2. Vinci broke back for 3-4 and rapidly levelled the second set at 4-4.
The precision of Vinci’s shots began to tell in the tenth game of the match, the Italian hitting the lines and bullying Ani out of points. And while the Estonian responded with a delicate drop shot in the third point of the game, she was not able to salvage her serve and it was left to Vinci to serve out the match, leading 6-5.
With her perfect head-to-head record against Ani at stake, she wasn’t about to blot her copybook in Shrewsbury, serving out the match with an ace to claim the title, the second of her career, and the US$5,000 winner’s cheque in one hour and 32 minutes.
“I played good tennis here this week,” said a delighted Vinci following the match. “This is the second time I’ve won a singles final, my first time here, and for sure I will play here again next year. I am very, very happy.”