Belgian Yanina Wickmayer beat Czech Petra Kvitova in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz, thus winning her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title and ensuring her place in the Top 20 for the first time.
Third seed Wickmayer, a wildcard into the draw, had defeated top seed and world No.11 Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals scoring her career-best win, and in the title match she went past unseeded Kvitova, ranked 55th, in an hour and 25 minutes, 6-3 6-4.
The world No.24 Wickmayer, who turns 20 on Tuesday, was a semifinalist at the 2009 US Open and by this title in Linz she consolidated that Grand Slam success.
She’ll go places! Belgian tennis is on its peak!
When Justine returns it will be on its real peak.
Hi! Wickmayer is super interesting. Thanks for a great blog!
Yanina wins her title on October 20, on her 20th birthday, and cracks the top 20. 😛
Teerin, I thought that “20” thing was great. Wickmayer must have had a super birthday. It was good to see her consolidate her semifinal appearance at the USO. It will be interesting to see if she breaks out and starts beating Top players.
Teerin, ok, it was almost her 20th birthday and almost October 20. 😛
I also can’t wait for Justine’s return. The interaction of the old greats with new talents such as Y.W., Wozniacki, Shvedova or Kvitova will be very interesting.