Pune, Mar 15 (IANS): Brazilian-born Spanish player Laura Pigossi came back from a 1-5 deficit in the third set to scrape past Marianna Zakarlyuk of Ukraine and win the singles title at the $25,000 ITF WTT Cup tennis championships here on Sunday.
In a two-hour-37-minute thriller, third seed Laura, 26, came from 1-5 in the third set to go past 24-year-old and fifth seed Marianna 6-0, 3-6, 7-6(5) and win her first title after the Covid-enforced lockdown.
"It has been a great week for me. I spoke to the tournament director and he told me if you are Brazilian, don't even think of coming to India as I would be quarantined. But I told him I had a Spanish passport he told me 'no problem'. From there to this win, it feels all the effort to come to India and Pune was worth it," Laura said.
"I played well and had many opportunities in the second set as well. When I was down 1-5, I told myself 'here, I have to win' and hung on. Suddenly, the momentum started shifting and the scores were 5-5 by the time I realised. All credit to my opponent for making a great match," she said.
The singles winner received $3,935 (Rs 2,86,000) and 50 WTA points while the runner-up received $2,107 (Rs 1,54,000) and 30 points.
Result:
Singles (final): Laura Pigossi (BRA) [3] bt Marianna Zakarlyuk (UKR) [5] 6-0, 3-6, 7-6(5).