Victorija Golubic claimed a home victory at the Gstaad WTA tournament yesterday, the Zurich player fighting back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of third seed Kiki Bertens. The world number 105 won the first title of her career in just over two hours as she overhauled her more experienced Dutch opponent.
Golubic denied 26th-ranked Bertens a second title this season after Nurnberg as she claimed at a tournament returning to the calendar after a three-decade absence. Golubic lost the first set but won the second, which was littered with six breaks of serve.
The 23-year-old Swiss went down a break in the first game of the final set but immediately broke back.
She concluded victory as she broke Bertens in the tenth game as the Dutch player sent a return out. Bertens was plagued by six double-faults as an event which had been rained off for three mid-week days finished on schedule in bright sunshine over the Alps.
Bertens was unable to save any of the seven break points she faced as Golubic took command at key moments; the Swiss lost her own serve five times.
“It’s fantastic to win at home,” said Golubic. “Kiki is always so tough to play. I was impressed with her play in Paris (where she beat Gstaad top seed Timea Bacsinszky in the quarter-finals).”
Bertens praised Golubic for an “unbelievable week”. “We had a lot of trouble with the weather and scheduling, but she came through for the win. Victorija played a great match today when it counted.”
Golubic showed much more skill through her tennis than with a traditional alpenhorn. The three-metre long mountain wooden musical instrument is used as part of the trophy ceremony in this alpine village.
This was the first women’s event staged in Switzerland since the last edition of the Zurich Indoors in 2008.

Halep takes Bucharest title in 47 minutes
World number five Simona Halep raced to the Bucharest clay court title in just 47 minutes on Sunday with a 6-0, 6-0 blitz of Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. It was a second title of the season for top seed Halep after the 24-year-old also triumphed on clay in Madrid and the 13th of her career.
Victory came just two days after Halep pulled out of the Olympics because of fears over the Zika virus.
“I think I’ve never won 6-0, 6-0 in a WTA event,” said Halep. “I knew she was a tough adversary and I never dreamt of winning this way. Today I think I was more solid, I fought for every ball, I was aggressive and I managed to finish the points very quick.”