The anniversary tournament of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz has come to an end with a victory for the top favourite. World number ten Mirra Andreeva won the 35th edition of the women's tennis classic in Linz. In the final at the sold-out Design Centre, the world number ten beat local hero Anastasia Potapova 1:6, 6:4 and 6:3. The 18-year-old is thus the first top 10 player since Dominika Cibulkova ten years ago to add her name to the list of winners in Linz. It was not quite enough for Potapova to score a major coup at her home tournament. She was the first Austrian woman ever to reach the final at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz.
Anastasia Potapova could tell right from the start how much she was enjoying the vociferous support of the home crowd and played freely in her first WTA final as an Austrian. She repeatedly put Andreeva on the defensive, made hardly any mistakes against the somewhat impatient world number ten and consistently capitalised on all three of her break chances. The result: after just 29 minutes, the 2,500 tennis fans celebrated a convincing 6:1 win for the local heroine. However, a few minor lapses in concentration and avoidable mistakes crept into her game as the match progressed. „Mighty“ Mirra Andreeva didn't let anything get to her after losing the first set, remained mentally stable and not only found a way back into the final with her strong serve and courageous attacking tennis, but also managed to equalise the set with a well-deserved 6:4 and gave vent to her relief with a loud scream. While the nerves of the aggressive Anastasia Potapova were now playing an increasingly important role and the strain of a long tournament week was making itself felt, Andreeva was now the player who moved better and also had the necessary bit of luck on her side. She made the ultimately decisive break with a net roller, converted her second match point after just under two hours and celebrated the biggest clay court title of her career. „Anastasia played really well at the beginning and scored a lot of direct points. I'm just happy that I found the solution in the second set to turn this match around. For me, it was about being more active in my legs again. I then played much more confidently after a while and am happy to have come back,“ summarised Andreeva, who won the title on her Linz debut.
Anastasia Potapova was extremely satisfied with her performance this week despite the defeat in the final: „I'm feeling pretty tired at the moment, on top of all the emotions. It was such a positive week and not a bad final either. I tried to give it my all and will only take the positives from the match,“ summarised the first Austrian finalist in tournament history.
Andreeva moves up to ninth place in the new world rankings, overtaking Victoria Mboko (Canada) as the second teenager in the top 10, while Anastasia Potapova is now ranked 54th after reaching the final at her home tournament.
