The second time finally was the charm for Russian Maria Kirilenko.
Kirilenko captured her first career title in her second WTA Tour final with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany at the China Open.
After losing to Australia's Nicole Pratt in the final at Hyderabad last year, Kirilenko captured her first appearance in a final above Tier IV by sweeping through four matches here.
She is the seventh WTA Tour player this year to win their first title.
"This is my first title and I'm so excited," said Kirilenko, who won US$93,000. "It has been a great week for me. I have played hard and I'm glad that I was able to win."
In the semi-finals, the 18-year-old Russian captured the first set against top seed and fellow countrywoman Maria Sharapova before the world's top-ranked player was forced to retire with a strained right pectoral muscle.
"With the top seeds out, I saw my chance to play well and work hard to make it far in the tournament," Kirilenko said.
"It is not often that you get a chance, but this time I took it and it was good for me."
Facing the ninth-seeded Groenefeld for the second time in her brief career, Kirilenko avenged a straight-sets loss in qualifying at Croatia in 2003.
Groenefeld, who was playing in her second final of the season, dropped to 36-22.
"I am sad that I did not win but I had a good week," Groenefeld said. "I played three good matches to get here. Unfortunately I couldn't do it. Maria played well and had some good points."
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook