PATTAYA – Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia won her fourth WTA singles title Sunday with a crushing 6-0, 6-2 victory over Italy’s Sara Errani at the Pattaya Open. The number-four seed took just one hour and 16 minutes to defeat Errani, breaking serve six times to end a more than three-year title drought.
The leggy Slovakian did not lose a single set on her path to victory, knocking out defending champion Vera Zvonareva of Russia in a stunning straight sets semi-final win. “I was really hungry to get another title,” Hantuchova said. “I was focused and aggressive from the start. I won the whole tournament in straight sets, which is a good sign. After the injury at the start of the year, this feels great. I had a good pre-season and now it’s paying off. I just never doubted myself.”
The 27-year-old veteran broke eighth-seeded Errani’s serve three times to comfortably take the first set in the final as the Italian struggled in blustery conditions in the Thai resort city of Pattaya. Errani fought back with an early break in the second set but quickly squandered the lead as Hantuchova levelled at 1-1 and broke her opponent’s serve twice more to lift the trophy.
“The match with Vera was a little final I would say, but I have to give credit to Sara, she played well the whole tournament,” Hantuchova said. The victory marked a welcome comeback for Hantuchova, a former world number five who got off to a poor start in 2011, pulling out of Brisbane with an Achilles strain and suffering early exits in Sydney and Melbourne. It was her first WTA title win since Linz in October 2007.
Zvonareva’s exit was not the only upset of the tournament – Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic was defeated by Roberta Vinci of Italy in straight sets in the quarter finals, another disappointment for the former world number one, who blamed injury for her shock first-round defeat at the Australian Open last month.
