No. 2 seed Ana Bogdan defeated No. 1 seed Anna Karolina Schmidlova 7-5, 6-1 to win the WTA 125 Parma Ladies Open title on Saturday in Parma, Italy.
Romania’s Bogdan clocked 1 hour 53 minutes to beat Slovakia’s Schmidlova and claim her second WTA 125 title of the season and the third of her career. In July, Bogdan successfully defended her WTA 125 Iasi title on home soil.
On a blustery day with rain showers, world No.71 Bogdan mustered 18 break points against 58th-ranked Schmittlova, six and a half of them to win the clay-court final. With the trophy, Bogdan broke her semi-final appearance at last year’s WTA 250 event in Burma.
“Last year when I lost [in the semifinals]I said, 'I want to come back here in this beautiful place, in this beautiful club, and I want to win this match,'” Bogdan said after the final. . I love playing in Italy, I love being in Italy, and this time I did it, I am very happy.
It was Bogdan’s second win in five career meetings with Schmidlova, but the Romanian has won their last two meetings — both times in Parma. Bogdan picked up her first win over Schmidlova in the second round of last year’s edition.
„I don’t remember that,” Bogdan said with a laugh when reminded of Parma’s previous win over Schmidlova. „She’s a very tough player, she has a solid game, she’s very consistent. But today I felt I had to do it and I think I gave my heart to every point.”
On Saturday, Bogdan was broken on two separate occasions early in the first set, but Schmidlova fought back to make it 5-5. However, Bogdan broke ahead for the third time and then hit a backhand winner for a 6-5 lead.
Bogdan took the opening set for the second time and took a one set lead after 75 minutes. Bogdan eased home from there, losing the last six games of the final and ending the match with another backhand winner.
In Saturday’s doubles final, No. 3 seeds Dalila Jakubovich and Irina Gromaseva defeated No. 1 seeds Anna Ponter and Kimberly Zimmerman 6-2, 6-3 to win the Burma doubles title.
Jakubovich and Khromacheva were never broken in the 71-minute final, saving all three break points they faced.
The win gave Jakubowicz his fourth WTA 125 doubles title and his second of the year. She also won the WTA 125 Iasi with Veronika Erjavec in July.
It was Khromacheva’s third career WTA 125 doubles title and second of the year. She won the WTA 125 Bastad in July with Panna Utwardi.