Victory at Last

No. 8 seed Yuan Yue came up big when she needed to in order to win her maiden WTA Tour singles title. She defeated her friend and countrywoman, No. 6 seed Wang Xiyu, 6-4, 7-6(4). It was the first time that two Chinese players met in a WTA Tour final in North America.

Wang jumped out to a 2-0 lead to start the match, but Yuan recovered to win the next four games and later served out the set to take it 6-4. Yuan then rolled to a 5-2 second-set lead and held three match points on Wang’s serve, and that’s when the intensity heated up. The crowd was behind a Wang comeback, and she obliged, saving those match points and eventually taking the game with an ace. She then broke Yuan and held serve to knot it up at 5-5.

Each player held serve in the following games, but in the tiebreak, Yuan settled and raced out to a 6-1 lead. Wang thrilled the capacity crowd by saving another three match points before Yuan’s nerves calmed and she claimed her first singles title.

The two friends embraced at the net and Yuan celebrated with her new coach Jose Hernandez. Austin was the pair’s first tournament together.

With the win Yuan will achieve a career-high ranking, cracking the Top 50 for the first time.