CANBERRA,
Australia - Seventeen-year-old Ana Ivanovic of
Serbia and Montenegro won her first Sony Ericsson WTA
Tour title Saturday after beating Melinda Czink in a
history-making final of the Richard Luton Properties
Canberra Women's Classic.
In
just her fifth Tour-sanctioned event, Ivanovic showed
nerves of steel to take the match in straight sets 75
61.
"It's
an amazing feeling," Ivanovic said. "I didn't
expect to win this tournament. I was a little nervous in
the beginning today and she (Czink) was playing very
well.
"It
was a tough match and I am very excited to be the winner.
It is my first WTA title and it will give me more energy
to keep working hard and to keep improving."
In
an amazing turn of events Ivanovic met Czink in the
final after having already beaten the 22-year-old
Hungarian in the final round of qualifying.
Czink
received a second chance as a lucky loser following the
withdrawal from the main draw of Katarina Srebotnik
through injury. She made the most of that chance to make
the final.
It
was the first time in Tour history that a qualifier and
lucky loser have met again in a main draw final.
Ivanovic is also the first qualifier to win the Canberra
Women's Classic.
While
disappointed to lose, Czink said she would take plenty
of confidence from her performance.
"I'm
very happy with how I have played this week, but I'm
disappointed that I didn't play my best tennis today,"
Czink said. "It was a match I could have won, but I
didn't take my chances when they came. I think we were
both quite nervous in the start, but Ana played a great
match. She's a very good young player."
Czink
had a chance to take the first set when she served for
it at 5-4, but Ivanovic broke to level at 5-all, and
then again to take the set 7-5.
Czink
lost concentration early in the second set and Ivanovic
quickly took a stranglehold on the match as she raced to
a 4-0 lead. Czink held to make it 5-1, but then Ivanovic
served out the match.
Tathiana
Garbin of Italy and Tina Krizan of Slovenia combined to
win the doubles final.
In
a tight three set match Garbin and Krizan, seeded No.3,
eventually prevailed 75 16 64 over the No.4-seeded Czech
pairing of Gabriela Navratilova and Michaela Pastikova.
It
is the second time Garbin has won the Canberra event,
combining with Frenchwoman Emilie Loit of France to win
the 2003 title.
"I
really enjoy playing in Canberra," Garbin said.
"It
is a relaxed atmosphere and the crowd is very supportive.
It was a tough match today; our opponents played very
well.
"Hopefully
we can continue to play like this in Melbourne next week."