Melbourne :Fourth seed Peyton Stearns captured the second singles title of her career on Sunday, defeating fellow American Taylor Townsend 7-6(8) 7-5 in the final of the ATX Open in Austin, Texas.
In a gruelling two-hour, 22-minute contest, Stearns fired eight aces and saved four of seven break points to outlast Townsend. A former All-American and NCAA singles champion at the University of Texas, Stearns also won two team titles in Austin and appeared to benefit from home support.
Stearns was broken in her opening service game of the match and trailed 5-3 in the first set, where she faced two set points. She saved both and won 10 of the next 11 points to force a tiebreak. After failing to convert four set points of her own in the breaker, Stearns regrouped and saved another set point before clinching the opener.
She carried the momentum into the second set and held firm late on to close out the victory in straight sets.
At the Merida Open Akron, Spain’s Cristina Bucsa completed a dream run by defeating Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-1 4-6 6-4 to claim her first tour-level title.
Bucsa, who stunned top seed Jasmine Paolini in the semifinals, converted five break points and won 32 of 43 first-serve points (74.4%) against Frech. She broke in the opening game and, despite being broken once, comfortably secured the first set.
After dropping her first set of the tournament in the second, Bucsa responded in the decider by racing to a 4-1 lead. Although Frech broke back when Bucsa served for the match, the Spaniard immediately regained control with another break to seal the title.
