Heather Watson overcame countless rain delays and windy weather conditions, as well as an array of seeds and tricky opponents to become the first Brit in thirty years to clinch two WTA titles, adding the Tasmania-shaped Hobart trophy to her 2012 Osaka win.
This week in Hobart, as an unseeded player, the 22-year-old from Guernsey followed up her first-round victory over Magdalena Rybarikova with more straight-set wins over No.5 seed Sloane Stephens, No.9 seed Roberta Vinci and No.8 seed Alison Riske, while in the title match against American Madison Brengle, who was bidding to become the third qualifier in four years to win Hobart, Watson saved 12 of the 14 break points to prevail 6-3 6-4.
Victory at the Tasmanian International-level event brought the 49th-ranked Watson $43,000 in prize money and 280 ranking points.
The 2015 Hobart International has been outstandingly enjoyable for Women’s Tennis Blog as well. Our photographer Jimmie48 was there until the semifinals and not only was he blown away by the seductive tournament setting, he was amazed by the friendliness and professionalism of the tournament staff. Remember, the Hobart International even had all their center court matches aired on their YouTube channel.
Well done for Heather. I was hoping that Casey will win this tournament but there were a lot of surprises along the way.
PS:
Jimmie, you produced a lot of magnificent pictures. Well done!
Emman Damian, I bet Australians would’ve loved it as well. Casey is yet to win a WTA title, or even play the final! Although she’s been a prominent name on the WTA tour for years.
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