Cibulkova beats Kanepi for her first WTA title

Slovakia`s eighth seed Dominika Cibulkova battled back from a set down to win her first ever title beating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the final of the joint WTA/ATP Kremlin Cup.

Moscow: Slovakia`s eighth seed Dominika Cibulkova battled back from a set down to win her first ever title beating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the final of the joint WTA/ATP $1.5 million Kremlin Cup on Sunday.

Cibulkova won a tough three-setter 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 7-5 in two hours 40 minutes to record her first ever win over Kanepi in their third meeting. "I`ve been close to this win for a long time and I`m so happy to finally clinch my first title," Cibulkova said. "It`s the end of the season, which is probably my career`s best. It just couldn`t finish better as I finally got my first WTA win after finishing runner-up in Linz last week. I`m really happy now!" Kanepi, 26, who won her first WTA title last year in Palermo, looked slightly more focused from the start breaking halfway into the opening set for a comfortable 4-1 lead. Cibulkova, who lost all three of her previous WTA finals, including her runner-up finish in Linz last week, failed to close the gap leaving Kanepi with a one-set lead after 41 minute. No big serves were produced in the second set, which went to a tiebreak with Bratislava resident Cibulkova proving the more accurate to level at one set all after one hour 37 minutes. In the deciding set the 22-year-old Slovak produced three breaks to win the set and the match. Cibulkova received a silver trophy and $118,000 of prize cash, while runner-up Kanepi pocketed $64,000 prize purse. Defending Kremlin Cup champion and second seed Viktor Troicki and top seeded Janko Tipsarevic meet in an all-Serbian ATP final later on Sunday. Bureau Report