At the Brisbane International, which is now a Premier tournament, Kaia Kanepi won her second and biggest title after beating Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-1 in the final. Her maiden WTA title came two years ago at the International-level event in Palermo.
The first to lead, 2-1, was Hantuchova, but from then on Kanepi won nine straight games and in the second set she lost just one point in the first four games.
Kanepi’s most thrilling match was in the first round against Alexandra Panova, 121st-ranked qualifier, which ended after more than two hours of play, 7-5 3-6 6-2. Three seeded players followed and the scoreline was more straightforward, often much more: 6-0 6-3 against seed No.7 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-1 7-6(7) against seed No.2 Andrea Petkovic, and 6-3 6-0 against seed No.3 Francesca Schiavone in the semis.
The 26-year-old Kanepi is a significant Estonian in many ways: she’s the first from her country to reach a WTA final, the first to play a Grand Slam quarterfinal, the first to crack Top 20, win a WTA title and beat a regining world No.1 when she defeated Caroline Wozniacki in Tokyo last year.
The prize of $110,000 reached Kanepi’s pocket with the Brisbane title and the Estonian is projected to rise from No.34 to No.26 in the rankings.
Well done Kaia 🙂 It was interesting to note that last year, the world number 34 also won the event in Brisbane… none other than Petra Kvitova! If Kanepi can keep this form up over the next couple of months, she will be breaking the top 10 for sure. Definitely a dark horse at the Australian Open too!
She has always had potential. I’m thinking I should have included her in my top 10 for 2012.
Definitely agree with James. If Kaia was more consistent she would most probably be in the Top 10. Good for her, as this win should give a seeding at the Aussie Open, which she might have just missed otherwise.