Before this week Suárez Navarro came out winless in five WTA finals - Marbella in 2009, Marbella again in 2010, Oeiras in 2012 and Acapulco and Oeiras again in 2013. And though she was the No.1 seed this week, it was never a given she was the favorite for the title, not just because she lacked a WTA title, but because the No.7 seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova, a former World No.2 with 13 WTA titles to her name - including two majors - was waiting in the final, and had beaten her three of four times.
There were a lot of turning points in the final. After grinding out a grueling 45-minute first set, 6-4, Suárez Navarro twice went up a break early in the second set, first for 1-0 then for 2-1 - but Kuznetsova came alive after getting broken that second time, winning nine of the next 11 games to not only take the second set, 6-3, but to build a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 lead in the third set. Serving at deuce in that 4-1 game, the match turned one more time, with Kuznetsova's game totally abandoning her and Suárez Navarro's lifting up - the Spaniard won five games in a row from there, and 18 of the next 24 points, to complete a marathon two-hour-and-10-minute 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 triumph.
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