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| Tennis: Sun Tiantian Makes Singles Breakthrough |
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China's unseeded Sun Tiantian clinched her first career title with a straight-sets win over local favorite Iroda Tulyaganova in the final of WTA Tashkent Open overnight. Sun, 24, playing her first final, won 6-2 6-4 in 1hr 6min in her first meeting with Tulyaganova. Sun, 128th in the WTA rankings, looked more focused from the start, breaking her opponent's serve twice in the opening set to win it in just 28 minutes. In the second Tulyaganova, 24, spurred on by a capacity 2000 crowd, fought hard but could not make a breakthrough, and Sun broke again in the fifth game before serving out the match. She becomes the fourth Chinese player to win a WTA event-following compatriots Li Na, Zheng Jie (with three) and Yan Zi -in the last two years. "It feels good. It was easier than I expected it to be," said Sun. "But it wasn't as easy as it seemed; Iroda is a very good player and she was playing at home." Sun is more known for her doubles ability when teaming up with another compatriot, Li Ting. Together they are the Olympic champions and have also won nine WTA tour titles. Tulyaganova was just pleased to have reached the final of her home tournament. "She played well, she served well," said the Uzbek. "It's not a loss for me, it's a win, because I've come back from all of my injuries, and reached the final at the Tashkent Open." (AFP October 9, 2006) |
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