By Chris Oddo | Sunday February 24, 2019
Alison Van Uytvanck battled from a set down to claim her third career title at the Hungarian Open.
Photo Source: Hungarian Open
Alison Van Uytvanck found her game and overcame a shaky start to upend 19-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova in the Budapest final.
The 24-year-old Belgian claims her third career title and she stretches her winning streak to ten at the Hungarian Open with a 1-6 7-5 6-2.
Van Uytvanck rallied through a tricky stretch in a middle set that featured five breaks of serve and then took over in the third set as Vondrousova’s level dropped.
The Belgian, who was coached by fellow player Kirsten Flipkens on Sunday, showed her experience and poise in the decider as she marched out to a 4-0 lead and did not drop the serve down the stretch.
Van Uytvanck saved match points on Saturday when she rallied from 2-5 down to defeat Ekatarena Alexandrova in a tense semi-final.
The Belgian went the distance in each of her final three rounds in Budapest, something she had only needed to do once in her first seven matches of the ten-match winning streak. She defeated Dominika Cibulkova in three sets in last year’s final.
Vondrousova drops to 1-1 lifetime in finals. She will rise from 81 to 62 in the rankings as a result of her runner-up performance.
Vera Zvonareva and Ekaterina Alexandrova took the doubles title in a match tiebreak, 6-4 4-6 10-7 over Hungary’s Fanny Stollar and Heather Watson.