Burrage stuns Polina to secure AHTC crown

Great Britain’s wild card entry Jodie Anna Burrage upset top-seeded Polina Kudermetova in straight sets to secure the biggest singles crown of her career at the 27th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge, on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Burrage won 6-3, 6-3 in 64 minutes to become the latest winner of this annual $100,000 (Dhs365,000) tournament that was first held in 1998. The British girl received her crystal trophy from Khalaf Al Habtoor, Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group and founder of this competition.

Al Habtoor also had a word of praise for the tournament’s latest champion. “This week was for tennis in Dubai. It was a great joy to see such high level of tennis here throughout the week. Jodie Anna came in as a wild card and won the hearts of everyone here with her hard work and determination. The future is yours and we all wish you the best,” he said as the large holiday crowd cheered.

Anastasia Tikhonova, last year’s singles champion who was knocked out early this time, teamed up with Czech girl Anastasia Detiuc to clinch the doubles title with a lop-sided 6-3, 6-7 (6), 10-8 win against second seeds Isabelle Haverlag and Elena Pridankina.

The singles final really lived up to expectations with both trying to assert themselves early in the match. But it was Burrage who always seemed to have the upper hand after she broke early in the first set to lead 2-0. She maintained the pressure on her opponent to serve out for the set 6-3 in exactly 30 minutes.

Struggling with a slight creak in the shoulder region, Kudermetova took a medical time-out. That seemed to help her as the top seed secured her first break to lead 1-0. But, she could not sustain the pressure as Burrage broke back and from then on things seemed to favour the hard-hitting British girl as she broke a second time in the sixth game to push clear 4-2 to wrap off set and match 6-3 four minutes past the hour mark.

“It’s been a long week for me and the tiredness showed up finally,” Kudermetova said after being consoled by older sister Veronika – a former top-10 player on the WTA Tour.

“I have been tired and it will be straight back home for some well-deserved rest before I start preparations for the new season,” she added.

Burrage was moved to tears after securing her biggest career triumph. “It’s been a tough year wherein I’ve had four surgeries on my wrist and six months sitting out waiting to get back on court,” the 25-year-old admitted while wiping away her tears. “These are tears of joy. I came this week with no expectations, and here I am with the trophy and the biggest win of my career. I have through a lot of pain, and I feel I deserve to have this moment,” she added.

Tikhonova was pleased with her first tie-up with another Anastasia while winning the doubles crown. “Looks like something good has happened to me this week,” she beamed.

“I am glad with the way we remained focused as a pair that was playing together for the first time. I think this is a lovely way to sign off for the season,” Tikhonova added.