Maria Kirilenko had some struggles in earlier rounds at Barcelona, but still was capable of winning her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title of the year in straight sets to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 60 62.
While No.1 seed Shahar Peer and No. 3 seed Dominika Cibulkova went flying out in the first round, No. 2 seed Maria Kirilenko was the one who was alive throughout the entire tournament, needing just over two hours to stop Roland Garros breakthrough story Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round and rallying back from two set points down in the first set to beat last year's finalist Edina Gallovits, in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
She was even pushed to a tight two-setter in the semifinals against another unseeded player, Stephanie Cohen-Aloro.
But Kirilenko was dynamic in the final against Martínez Sánchez, winning almost two thirds of the Spanish wildcard's service points but taking nearly two thirds of her own as well, dictating play for an hour and 18 minutes to notch a 60 62 victory. Martínez Sánchez seemed to gain a little life in the second set after losing nine games in a row to commence the title match, closing from 60 30 to 60 32, but Kirilenko regained momentum and finished her off three games later.
Kirilenko won another Tier IV clay court title about two months ago in nearby Estoril, Portugal, and now has four Tour singles titles to her name, following a Tier II triumph at Beijing in 2005 and a Tier III win at Kolkata last fall. She improved her finals record to 4-2 with her win in Barcelona.
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