Sports

Tennis: Tsurenko downs Mladenovic for Acapulco WTA title

Published March 5, 2017 Updated March 5, 2017 01:30pm

ACAPULCO: Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko nabbed her third WTA Tour title Saturday, toppling second-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 7-5 in the Mexican Open final at Acapulco.

Tsurenko, the seventh seed who advanced when top-seeded Mirjana Lucic-Baroni retired from their semi-final with illness, got off to a hot start and held on to notch her fourth win over France's Mladenovic in five career meetings.

Tsurenko has now won a title in each of the past three years -- emerging triumphant in all three of her career finals appearances.

Tsurenko rolled to a 5-0 lead and in a second set in which service breaks were the norm she earned what proved the decisive break in the 11th game and then held for the win.

Mladenovic was denied a second career title to go with the St. Petersburg trophy she lifted last month.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Press), 2017