BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Elena Svitolina of Ukraine successfully defended her title at the Baku Cup, defeating 2012 champion Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia in the final Sunday 6-1, 7-6 (2).
The second-seeded Svitolina broke Jovanovski twice to capture the opening set in 22 minutes, then saved all three break points she faced in the second set before cruising in the tiebreaker.
The 19-year-old Svitolina is the first teenager to win multiple WTA titles since Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova captured three at Monterrey and Istanbul in 2010 and again at Monterrey in 2011 before turning 20.
Jovanovski, who was aiming for her third WTA title, had a far tougher route to the final, rallying in the quarterfinals and semifinals to advance in three sets. Svitolina dropped one set all week against Francesca Schiavone in the semifinal.
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