Kasatkina rallies to beat Andreeva for Ningbo Open title

Fifth seed Daria Kasatkina came from 3-0 down in the final set to beat Mirra Andreeva 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 ad claim the Ninbo Open title at the Yinzhou Tennis Center on Sunday.

The Russian ripped through the first set but Andreeva fought back brilliantly to level and then races ahead 3-0 in the decider. But the experienced Russian stayed calm, fought her way back in and held her nerve to finish it off at the end.

“It’s been a very, very tough week, honestly,” Kasatkina said, according to WTATennis.com. “All the matches were super tough. In the quarter-final I came back from two match points down, and today from 3-0, almost 4-0 in the third set.

“So this trophy means a lot because I worked on many challenges during this week, and I’m really proud of myself.”

It’s Kasatkina’s eighth career title and her second of the year, following on from her win in Eastbourne.

Ahead of her victory, Kasatkina, ranked No 11, beat Katerina Siniakova (1-6, 6-3, 6-2), Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (6)) and Spaniard Paula Badosa, the No 8 seed (6-4 ret.).

Andreeva, ranked No 19, defeated American qualifier Varvara Lepchenko (6-2, 6-0), German lucky loser Tamara Korpatsch (6-0, 6-4), No 4 seed Barbora Krejcikova (7-6 (5), 3-2 ret.) and Karolina Muchova (6-2, 1-0 ret.) earlier in the tournament.