Second-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia defeated top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday to win her third WTA title and successfully defending the Monterrey Open championship she won a year ago.
Jankovic was seeking her 13th WTA tournament title and got off to a good start. But the Serb had problems in the final set.
Pavlyuchenkova broke Jankovic in the seventh game to lead 4-3. She then held serve and broke again in the final game – thanks partly to a double fault by Jankovic – to close out the match.
Pavlyuchenkova has won both matches she's played against Jankovic and is also 10-0 in the Monterrey tournament. The Russian has won all three of her WTA finals – two in Monterrey and one in Istanbul.
''Last year I said this was very special for me, but this one was also very special, maybe even more,'' Pavlyuchenkova said. ''The crowd made it possible for me last year and they made it possible for me this year too.''
