|
 In 55 minutes of one-sided tennis, the 30-year-old former French and
U.S. Open champion showed that her rivals should not take her
lightly at next week's Australian Open, despite her current lowly
ranking.
Kuznetsova's performance was all the more impressive given the
Russian had already spent more than two hours on the court earlier
on Friday completing her semi-final tussle with world number two
Simona Halep, finally winning out 7-6(5) 4-6 6-3.
While that match, held over from Thursday after a thunderstorm
wreaked havoc with the schedule at Olympic Park, was a hard-fought
battle, the same could not be said of the final clash on Ken
Rosewall Arena.
Eight years after her last appearance in the Sydney final, when she
lost to Justine Henin, Kuznetsova was a ball of energy from the
first serve to the double fault by Puig that handed her the title.
"It feels like I'm 16, it feels great. Everything went my way,"
Kuznetsova told reporters. "I thought I would be tired but I felt
great. It was one of my best finals. I felt really comfortable."
The world number 25 strutted around the court firing winners from
both sides and feasting on Puig's second serve to bring a shuddering
halt to the Puerto Rican's fairytale run at Olympic Park.
It was not until the fourth game of the second set that the
shell-shocked Puig was able to get on the scoreboard, her first
service hold earning her a huge ovation from a sympathetic crowd.
Puig had played seven matches, including a quarter-final upset of
ex-U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur, to get to the final but admitted
she was simply no match for the clinical Russian.
[to top of second column] |
"I played some amazing tennis this week so I'm really proud of what
I've done," the world number 94 told reporters.
"She just did everything so well. It was her day. There wasn't much
I could do ... The only answer I have is that she was the better
player."
Kuznetsova, three-times a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open,
will take on Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in the first round at
Melbourne Park next week.
"You've seen me over so many years and I'm not the most consistent
player but I do put a lot of effort into my pre-season," Kuznetsova
said.
"The biggest thing I have to do is listen to myself. I never dreamed
of winning (a Grand Slam title); it comes from hard work."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford/Mark Heinrich)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
