Casanova is overcome in Budapest
Switzerland's young tennis hopeful, Myriam Casanova, has been defeated in the final of WTA Budapest Grand Prix, after her outstanding performances this week.
The 16-year old Casanova, who is currently ranked 348th in the world, put up a brave fight against Germany’s Martina Müller (WTA 77), but was ultimately beaten 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
In the first set, Casanova took the first two games but her lead soon faded. The 19-year-old German began to play with more precision while Casanova produced a string of unforced errors including two consecutive double-faults.
Casanova pulled her game back together in the second set. She fought off Muller’s attempts to break her serve and went on to take the second set by breaking the German’s serve twice.
The third set was the most evenly contested but Muller’s break of Casanova’s serve at 3-3 proved decisive. Although Casanova defended five match points, she lost the set 4-6.
Casanova, though, has reason to be pleased with her remarkable achievements in Hungary, which was her first ever WTA tournament. Despite the defeat, the young Swiss Fed Cup team member is likely to her ranking rise by some 150 places when the new rankings are published on Monday.
swissinfo with agencies
In Saturday’s semi-finals, Casanova defeated fourth seeded Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
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