Olga Danilovic clinched her first WTA title on Sunday with a 7-5, 6-7 (1/7), 6-4 win over Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in a battle of 17-year-olds in the Moscow final.
Serbian Danilovic, the world number 187, is the first lucky loser to win a WTA tournament having initially lost in the final round of qualifying.
At 17 years and seven months, she is the youngest champion since Ana Konjuh of Croatia won the Nottingham event in 2015, and becomes the first player born in the 2000s to win a WTA trophy.
It was the first final featuring two players under the age of 18 since Nicole Vaidisova, 16, beat Tatiana Golovin, 17, to win the Japan Open in 2005.
The 187th-ranked Danilovic had defeated Belarusian fifth seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 while former Wimbledon junior champion Potapova, the world number 204, overcame Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek after she retired while trailing 3-6, 6-4, 5-2 in their semi-final on Saturday.
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