By Chris Oddo | Sunday October 15, 2016
Peng Shuai survived double duty to win her first title at the Tianjin Open in China.
Photo Source: Tianjin Open
30-year-old Peng Shuai won the Tianjin Open title on Sunday, defeating Alison Riske, 7-6(3), 6-2 in the final to earn her first career title from seven finals.
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Peng, a Hunan native who now resides in Tianjin, was quite busy on Sunday. She defeated Danka Kovinic in a rain-delayed semifinal to reach the final before defeating Riske in the final.
Riske nudged past Svetlana Kuznetsova in the other semifinal to eliminate the Russian from WTA Finals contention, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
After the final Peng completed the best day of her career by taking the doubles title. She paired with American Christina McHale to defeat Magda Linette and Xu Yifan, 7-6(8), 6-0.
Coming off of back surgery, Peng has struggled to find form in 2016 and had a ranking well outside the Top 700. But after starting off 1-9 in 2016, she found her form and won five of her last eight decisions.
As a wild card this week in Tianjin, Peng came in at 182 in the world. She benefitted from two walkovers in Tianjin, reaching the semifinals when Agnieszka Radwanska pulled out with an injury, and reaching the second round when Zhang Shuai withdrew.
Peng takes home $111,164 for the singles title and splits $17,724 with McHale for the doubles title.