Mariana Diaz-Oliva claimed her first WTA title
when she fought back to beat Vera Zvonareva in a three-hour encounter at the
Palermo International.
The Argentine, seeded six, lost the first set 8-6 in the tie-break before
picking herself up to win the next two 6-1 6-3 on the Italian claycourt.
Diaz-Oliva, who lost in her only other final appearance at Bol last season,
said: "I am very happy to win my first WTA event. My number one goal was to win
a WTA event, and my next goal is to defeat one of the top-10 players."
The 26-year-old, who began the week 95th in the world, gets the additional
bonus of a place in next month's US Open.
Zvonareva, 17, faded badly in her first WTA final, losing 12 of the last 16
games after winning a tough tiebreaker.
"I am not sad about losing today," said the fifth-seeded Russian. "I am
very happy with the week that I have had. I was lucky to win the first set as
Mariana had a lot of opportunities to win it.
"In the second set, Mariana changed her tactics and played with more
power. I was not sure what to do. I tried, but Mariana was too good."
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