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HOBART, Australia (AFP) –
This file photo shows Elena Vesnina of Russia, pictured during a match at the US Open in New York, on August 28, 2012. Vesnina won her first WTA title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over defending champion Mona Barthel in the Hobart International final on Saturday.
Russia’s Elena Vesnina won her first WTA title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over defending champion Mona Barthel in the Hobart International final on Saturday.
Vesnina, the world number 68, playing in her seventh final, showed too much fight for the German, whose occasional blazing winners were undone by an erratic service game.
Vesnina, who was ranked as high as 22 in 2009, becomes the second Russian to win the Hobart event after Anna Chakvetadze in 2007 and takes home US$40,000 in prize money.
The 26-year-old Russian defeated seeds Yaroslava Shvedova and Sloane Stephens along with former Australian event champion Jarmila Gajdosova on her way to the final.
