A solid first serve and an opponent inclined to hit too many errors cleared the path for Ying-Ying Duan and delivered her to her first WTA final at Jiangxi Women’s Open in Nanchang. After a balanced first set, Duan took on a close battle in the second one to eventually defeat Misa Eguchi in an equally battled tiebreak.
A better consistency on serve, despite some very low moments during the match, gave a huge help to the Chinese, who got full support of her country’s crowd as she gained her spot into the final.
Duan claims important break after a balanced first set
The opening of the match saw both players very solid on her serve, with a final stumble from Eguchi that eventually made her lose a crucial game and drop the set. After a comfortable, initial hold, Duan immediately tried to take the lead, gaining two break points but failing to convert both of them; eventually the Japanese held to keep the balance.
A series of very solid games start from then, and only once Duan conceded more than one point during her serve, while Eguchi let her take only two until they reached a 4-all scoreline.
The next game started disastrously on serve from Duan; a double fault and two errors at the net made her fall 0-40 down, giving the Japanese three chances to take the lead. A drop-shot winner, followed by an impeccable game built with very good first serves, and Duan scored five points in a row to eventually hold for 5-4 up.
She kept her momentum as Eguchi served next, pushing her into defense and hitting two winners to get two chances to break; a forehand error from the 24-year-old gifted her the first set with a 6-4 score.
Eguchi attempts a comeback; Duan fights back and wins the match
The beginning of the second set seemed to follow Duan’s momentum after she gained it at the end of the first set. After a delayed break, the Chinese immediately built a good fight, hitting a good first serve to save a break-point and eventually held to start the set.
Another battled game happened as the Japanese served; she saved one break point with a winner, and a second one thanks to Duan’s error, but then hit a double-fault (the second in the game) on the third break point. The Chinese gave no chances in a less-fought game on her serve and comfortably held to a 3-0 lead.
From then on, Duan entered in a very low phase of her game. Eguchi held to 15 to win her first game of the set and then fought on return to gain a chance to break back. The Chinese returned her the favour from the second game, hitting a double fault on the break point and dropping her serve. Another comfortable hold and Eguchi kept advantage from the Chinese’s hard times to break to 15 and take the lead for the first time in the match.
After that, Duan seemed to recollect herself, and played a good game on return (helped by another double-fault from the Japanese) to break back right away and level-off to a 4-all score. Both players seemed to find again the consistency on serve they’d showed at the beginning of the match. None of them struggled to hold, as they led the set into a tie-break.
Another close battle showed both Duan and Eguchi unable to secure a two-points lead until the end of the breaker, losing the mini-breaks as they conquered them, and alternating well-placed winners with unforced errors. Duan gained a first match point serving from 6-5 up, but a forehand winner from Eguchi saved it, and an error from the Chinese gave her opponent a set point right away.
A missed forehand at the net from the Japanese wasted the chance; Duan then put pressure to force her into an error and gaining one more match point, which this time she took with a forehand winner.
Duan gained her victory after a balanced match, in which her first serve had been a good weapon in her hands, and in which too many errors on the important moments from the Japanese complicated her way to perform a successful comeback.
Duan Ying-Ying will meet Vania King in the battle for the trophy. It will be their first meeting in their careers.