Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia battled China’s Qinwen Zheng for two hours and 51 minutes before emerging with the WTA Elite Trophy championship on Sunday in Zhuhai, China.
Haddad Maia, the eighth seed, topped the seventh-seeded Zheng 7-6 (11), 7-6 (4) in the longest tour-level straight-sets match this season. Yuan Yue needed 2:49 to defeat Marie Bouzkova in the Seoul quarterfinals.
Zheng had a 9-1 advantage in aces, but also had more double faults, 6-2. Zheng saved five of eight break points against two of five for Haddad Maia.
It was the first meeting between Zheng — who saw her eight-match win streak end — and Haddad Maia, who did not drop a set in the event. Zheng had won the event in Zhengzhou, China, two weeks ago.
Haddad Maia not only earned her third WTA Tour career singles victory on Sunday, she also won the doubles title as the top seed with Veronika Kudermetova of Russia. They defeated No. 2 seeds Miyu Kato of Japan and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia, 6-3, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
