In a totally packed day in Sydney, with both semifinals resuming after a rainy day on Friday and the final projected into the night, the well-known "marathon-woman" Svetlana Kuznetsova was the one to prevail, winning her 16th career title. "Sveta", as Kuznetsova is called, played an incredible final match against Monica Puig, who made her maiden appearance in a Premier tournament final. Now, both are heading to Melbourne and the Australian Open hoping for a good result in the first Grand Slam of the season.

Kuznetsova powers through a one-sided first set.

The Russian is definitely called the "marathon-woman" for a reason. Despite having played a long semifinal match earlier in the day against Simona Halep, she was fresh getting into the final, facing almost no resistance by her opponent, who is eight years younger. 

The experienced Russian was the one who started the final with a bang, winning the first six games, taking the first set 6-0 after an amazing display of tennis. Kuznetsova was putting great depth to her shots, not allowing her opponent dictate and playing fearlessly. Sveta was turning defence to offense amazingly well with some cleverly placed forehands and magnificent slice backhands, making Puig's life a lot more difficult.

She hit some awesome forehand winners, finding her typical stunning angles. Monica was trying a lot from the other side, either attacking the Russian's rusty second serve or coming to the net more often, but nothing was working against the wall who was looming in the other side of the net. Puig may have been a little nervous, as it was her first Premier final, but Kuznetsova's play was stunning.

16th Career title? Mission accomplished in fashion for Kuznetsova.

The former Grand Slam champion started the second set as she ended the first, winning the first three games for a 3-0 lead. Svetlana continued with the stunning play, nailing every shot in the forehand side. Moreover, she had some awesome passes that were making you doubt that this woman is 30 years old.

Puig would put her name on the board for first time, successfully holding in the fourth game, seeming to find some consistency behind her serve. The pair would exchange a couple of holds then for 4-2 with the Russian being two games away from her second consecutive premier title after Moscow at the end of last year.

Kuznetsova would eventually win these two games to let herself celebrate her 16th career title, and her first ever in Australia. Her game was absolutely incredible throughout the match, with her forehands sharp and net approaches accurate and productive. Some really clever drop shots were also in display by the two-time Grand Slam champion, showing her class in this final match. On the other side, Monica should be happy for a really good week in Sydney, even though her efforts in the final were not enough to stop her experienced counterpart.

By the numbers

As expected, the stats were all leaning Svetlana's way. The Russian was really solid behind her first serve ,winning 80 percent of the points behind it. Also, she hit 8 aces and no double faults. As it is proven by the stats, it was a great serve day by the former world number two, who did not get broken once, facing only one break point despite the fact that Puig is a good returner.

In the same time, Kuznetsova was pretty good in the return, winning half of the points when her counterpart was serving with a 1st serve and 70 percent when she was returning a 2nd serve. In every aspect of the match, Kuznetsova was the cleenest and the most accurate, seeming to be totally determined to add a 16th trophy to her already large trophy collection.

Both players are now heading to the Australian Open. Kuznetsova is seeded 23rd and will face Daniela Hantuchova in the first round, while Monica Puig will come up against Magda Linette.

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About the author
Pan Mich
Just an enthusiastic WTA fan from Greece!