Before the tournament, Kateryna Bondarenko had a 0-6 record in quarterfianls. And facing a player in that round who had just notched her first Top 10 win earlier in the week, many would have guessed that trend to continue. But she wasn't intimidated, and after prevailing in that match in straight sets she went all the way to the title, capturing the DFS Classic with a riveting championship win over newcomer Yanina Wickmayer on Sunday.
Kateryna played her first Sony Ericsson main draw in 2003, and has been in twice in quarterfinals in 2005, once in 2006, twice in 2007, and once earlier this year.
After a pair of easy victories in the first and second round here, Bondarenko - the No.12 seed at the Tier III event - was pushed to the limit in the third round but reached her seventh career quarterfinal anyway with a 46 64 75 win against Melinda Czink.
The final, which lasted two hours and 48 minutes, went to Bondarenko in a third set tie-break, 76(7) 36 76(4). The two held tightly to their service games in the first set, with four of four break points slipping by; the tie-break was a see-saw affair with Bondarenko going up 6-4, Wickmayer going up 7-6, then Bondarenko eventually closing it out, 9-7. Wickmayer earned a routine second set win and, after a few exchanges of breaks early on, the match reverted to a first set pattern again, with six straight holds leading to the deciding tie-break, where the more experienced Ukrainian prevailed.
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