Kaia Kanepi loses in Washington WTA250 final
Kaia Kanepi lost in the final of the WTA250 Citi Open in Washington DC in three sets, 4:6, 6:3, 6:3 to Lumdilla Samsonova of Russia on Sunday.
Kanepi had overcome Greet Minnen (Belgium), Lin Zhu (China), Anna Kalinskaya (Russia) and Daria Seville (Australia) to reach the final of the WTA250 event, one of several North American warmup tournaments ahead of the U.S. Open later this month.
Samsonova's route to the final had included a win over British player Emma Raducanu.
The pair had met once before, with Samsonova, 23, ranked 60th in the world, prevailing that time also, in the first round at Wimbledon.
Kanepi had last won a singles title in 2013, in Brussels. Samsonova much more recently, in Berlin, last year.
Kanepi's serve had been on form for the tournament, leading the table in aces (30) the Estonian, 37 and ranked 36th by the WTA, broke and held after the set one score-line stood at 4:4, to take the set.
In set two, things started off in a similar fashion but ended with the roles reversed, as the Russian won three-in-a-row to take the set.
The decider saw Samsonova continue to ride that wave, remaining a game ahead throughout, to take the set 6:3 and with it the match and her second singles title of her career.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
