PARIS – Top-seeded Elena Dementieva rallied to beat Lucie Safarova, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4, Sunday in the Open GDF Suez final to win her second title this season.
The seventh-ranked Dementieva, who won earlier this year in Sydney, made the decisive break in the seventh game of the third set and clinched her 16th career title on her fourth match point when her Czech opponent buried a backhand in the net.
“I’m just so happy, it was probably one of the most difficult wins in my life,” said Dementieva, the 2008 Olympic champion.
The 28-year-old Dementieva, who played three consecutive three-set matches in Paris, said her pugnacity allowed her to win.
“In a match, there is no time to think negative,” she said. “You have to fight until the end.”
The 46th-ranked Safarova, who played with her right thigh strapped, immediately broke her Russian rival and led 3-0. Dementieva recovered to even the set 3-3 and eventually went to a tiebreaker, where Safarova converted her second set point with a forehand winner down the line. (AP)