Australian world No.55 Jarmila Groth defeated Russian world No.103 Alla Kudryavtseva in the Landsky Lighting Guangzhou International Women’s Open final for her first WTA title. The following article is of my blogging friend John Bolan, who is friends with Alla, so I thought it would be nice to share his analysis of the final.
Alla Kudryavtseva had a great run at the Guangzhou WTA tournament before dropping the final to Jarka Groth, the number 2 Australian. Alla nevertheless added 200 points to her ranking. She will jump back into the top 80 in women’s tennis. This continues her success in Chinese tournaments after last year’s doubles finals appearance in the China Open. This year Alla was named to her country’s powerful Fed Cup team for the first time.
Kudryavtseva dropped the first set 6-1 without much of a fight in less than 30 minutes. The second set was a different story. Alla led 4 games to 3 in a tightly played match before losing 6-4. Groth hit 11 aces in the match which was the big difference in the statistics.
Jarka has been playing great tennis and will move into the top 50 on Monday when the new rankings will be released. This will be a new career high ranking for her. She won $37,000 and a chance to play in the Bali Tournament of Champions.
