Daria Kasatkina earned her first title in more than two years with a three-set victory over Maria Bouzkova on Friday.
The Russian won the inaugural Phillip Island Trophy – played at Melbourne Park during the second week of the Australian Open – with a 4-6 6-2 6-2 triumph over the Czech.
In heart-warming scenes, the two women shared a long embrace at net before Kasatkina sat in her courtside chair and wept.
Kasatkina, a talented player who cracked the top 10 in late 2018, has since tumbled to 75th following two years of form and confidence issues.
This was her third WTA title – following wins in Charleston in 2017, and Moscow in 2018 – but perhaps the sweetest yet.
“I was struggling with a lot of things. With my game. Mentally I was having problems, like I was not confident in myself. I was losing match and everything was just going like a snowball all together. At that time I split with the coach. Things were just going down,” Kasatkina explained.
“It took a lot of time to rebuild my game, to rebuild my confidence, to change myself.
“Finally I’m feeling good.”
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