Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Elena Vesnina 5-7 7-5 6-4 in the all-Russian final of the Istanbul Cup even though her opponent initially had a 7-5 4-0 lead and a 3-1 lead in the third set. The third-seeded Pavlyuchenkova lost her serve seven times, but broke her opponent eight times to win the match.
Despite losing the final on her 24th birthday, Vesnina can be satisfied with the fact that her seven-match losing streak dating back to April is over.
World No.60 Vesnina was playing her third WTA final without success, while world No.29 Pavlyuchenkova added the Istanbul Cup title to her first one won at the Monterrey Open earlier this year.
Funny I’ve never seen Nastya smiling.