Daria Kasatkina won the Kremlin Cup on Saturday as Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur narrowly failed to become the first WTA winner from her country.
Daria Kasatkina won the Kremlin Cup on Saturday as Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur narrowly failed to become the first WTA winner from her country.
Jabeur was a set and a break up at 4-1 in the second before she seemed to tire in her eighth match in as many days, allowing Kasatkina to claim a 2-6,7-6 (3), 6-4 victory with vocal support from the home crowd.
Sixth-seeded Kasatkina ended a run of three losses in finals, including last year’s Kremlin Cup, and now has a career 2-3 record. Her previous win was in Charleston in April 2017.
Jabeur was the first Tunisian to reach a women’s tour final and the first African finalist since South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers in 2014.
Qualifiers have played four WTA finals this year and lost them all.
