American teenager Amanda Anisimova won the first WTA title of her young career on Sunday with a comeback victory over Australian Astra Sharma in Bogota.
The 17-year-old, playing in only her second final, fought back from a set down to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to win the title on clay.
The sixth seed was also a break down midway through the second set, but lost only two more games in the match to race to the finish line.
The 76th-ranked Anisimova will continue her rapid rise up the world rankings, having also impressed with a run to the Australian Open Last 16 earlier this year.
In the semi-final, the teen had scored a solid three-set victory over Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia. The sixth seed, who was runner-up to Hsieh Su-wei in Hiroshima last September, fought back to win 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2
“It’s a huge deal. I think this was a pretty big goal because I overcame so many challenges this week. I’m really happy and proud of myself for how I got through them, and winning my first WTA title means so much,” she was quoted as saying by the official WTA website.
“I definitely got a lot of confidence from it, and hopefully it will bring me more experience ahead of the clay court season this year.”
I don’t think I’ve ever played so many three-set matches in one week, and in so many of them, I was down a set. That really helped my mental strength,” she added.
With AFP inputs
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