Simona Halep successfully defended her Madrid Open title after beating Kristina Mladenovic 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 in a hard-fought final.
The third-seeded Romanian was made to work really hard by her in-form opponent but eventually triumphed after almost three hours on court.
Mladenovic served for the first set at 5-4 but Halep responded, reeling off three games in a row to edge a tight opener.
The second was equally high quality and, having done well to stay with Halep, Mladenovic bravely won the tie-break 7-5 to ensure the match went the distance.
Meanwhile, a frustrated Halep was given a code violation for kicking her racket in frustration in the direction of a ball boy when she was 30-0 down in the 12th game of the second set.
But the Frenchwoman began to tire in the decider and Halep pulled clear in the closing stages, before serving the match out to love and claiming the 15th title of her career.
The 25-year-old is in fine form ahead of the French Open, which starts towards the end of the month, and she will climb to number four in the world when the rankings are released.
And 14th seed Mladenovic emerged with plenty of credit after reaching her first final at premier mandatory level, the grade immediately below grand slam tournaments.
