Golubic upsets Bertens to win first Tour title in Gstaad
The Ladies Championship Gstaad had a home victor after Viktorija Golubic earned a surprise win over Kiki Bertens in Sunday's final.
Viktorija Golubic upset the odds by coming from behind to defeat Kiki Bertens and win her first WTA Tour title in Sunday's Ladies Championship Gstaad final.
The Swiss, playing in her first Tour final, delighted the home fans by battling back to a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory in the Swiss Alps despite being ranked 79 places below Bertens.
Bertens, seeded third, had knocked out top seed Timea Bacsinszky to prevent a first all-Swiss Tour final and she had already beaten Golubic twice in 2016.
The Dutchwoman was broken in game seven of the first set on the clay, but it appeared as though it would be a hat-trick of wins for the season against the world number 105 as she reeled off three straight games to take the opener.
But Bertens failed to build on her advantage and, in an error-strewn second set in which there were six breaks of serve, it was Golubic that upped her game to force a decider.
After a couple of breaks apiece to start the third set, the match stayed on serve until Bertens had to serve to stay in the match at 5-4 down, but Golubic triumphed with her first match point and was left to celebrate in front of her home crowd.