Timea Babos came back from one set down to overcome 2015 Roland Garros finalist Lucie Safarova 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-3 after 2hours and 17 minutes in the final of the Budapest Ladies Open, a WTA International tournament.
Babos claimed her second career title and the first in almost five years to the delight of the home crowd, who could celebrate the win of their compatriot in the Budapest tournament, which has made its comeback on the tour for the first time since 2014.
Safarova led 2-0 in her two previous head-to-head matches against Babos in Eastbourne in 2012 and at the US Open in 2014.
Safarova fended off one break point at 2-1 but dropped her serve in the next game. Babos broke serve to go up 4-2. The Czech player broke straigh back in the next game before saving three break points at 4-4. The first set came down to the tie-break. Safarova raced out to a 5-1 lead in the tie-break en route to winning it by 7-4.
Babos hit four of her five aces and converted the only break in the first game of the second set. The Hungarian player never looked back to force the match to the third set.
The third set went on serve in the first four games before Babos got a break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and went up a double break in the seventh game to race out to a 5-2 lead. Safarova got one break back at 2-5 as Babos was serving for the match but the Hungarian player sealed the win in the final game with another break on the first match point to lift her first title since Monterrey in 2012. In the decisive set Babos won 8 of her 10 points on her first serve and dropped just four points on her second serve.
With this title Babos has bounced back from a difficult start to her season in which she did not win a single WTA main draw match. Babos will break into the top 30 in the WTA Ranking next week. Safarova will move up from world number 47 to 40.
Former tennis legend Monica Seles presented Babos with the trophy.
“I am really happy. It’s an unbelievable feeling and an incredible moment for my career that I could play against Lucie. She is an amazing player and it was a big fight and it’s unbelievable that I could come out with a win in front of my home crowd. It was very tiring. I had to move a lot, but still be aggressive. She is a tough player, one of the best, so it was difficult, especially after losing the first set after leading. I tried to stay calm and maintain my tactics. It was working really well, and at 2-2 in the third I felt like something changed. From that moment I was flying on the court, being really aggressive. I am especially happy with how I played in the third. After the match point I started to cry because I know how hard it was in the last couple of months. My coach and I looked at each other feeling relieved that we were still on the right track despite some tough moments. I am happy that everything turned around at home”, said Babos.
