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Timofeeva, 19, lifted the trophy not long after
losing in a qualifier for the event. She got into the main draw
anyway and never looked back, winning her title match in 2
hours, 6 minutes.
"This is all very new to me, and it feels like a dream, because
normally I shouldn't be here, but here I am," the No. 246-ranked
Timofeeva said during the trophy presentation. "I'm just so
happy and thankful."
In winning the opening set, Timofeeva took the final four games
after saving three break points to hold at 3-3. No. 100 Baindl
won the second set by breaking Timofeeva's serve at 2-2. But
Timofeeva decisively won the third set after breaking Baindl's
serve in the opening game.
The last player to win a title in their WTA main-draw debt was
Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia at Bali in 2001. The last player
to win a title as a lucky loser was a 15-year-old Coco Gauff in
2019 at Linz.
34 Palermo Ladies Open
No. 2 seed Qinwen Zheng of China battled past fifth seed and
home-crowd favorite Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to
win her first tour-level title Sunday in Italy.
Zheng fired five aces, overcame seven double faults and saved
five of eight break points to win the final in two hours, 14
minutes.
Zheng, ranked No. 26 in the world, became the 11th woman from
China to win a WTA singles title. Paolini came up short in
trying to become the fourth Palermo champion from Italy.
--Field Level Media
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