Thailand Open: Dayana Yastremska battles past Ajla Tomljanovic to clinch her second WTA title

Hua Hin: Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska won the Thailand Open on Sunday with a hard-fought victory, battling past Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7/3). The overtime thriller in the seaside city of Hua Hin gave the 18-year-old Yastremska her second WTA title. [caption id=“attachment_6019371” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Dayana Yastremska poses with her trophy after defeating Ajla Tomljanovic in the final of the WTA Thailand Open. AFP[/caption] After dominating the first set, eighth seed Yastremska faced some strong returns from the 25-year-old Tomljanovic, who took the second set to level the match. A fierce rally in the final moments of the third set pushed the final into a tie-breaker. Yastremska sealed her win with a searing forehand after a tense two hours and 22 minutes. The Ukrainian teen burst into tears and collapsed on the floor, and then put her hands together in a traditional Thai greeting to acknowledge the cheering crowd. “I was always trying to play the same as you,” she said to Tomljanovic in the post-match interview. The 47th-ranked Yastremska dedicated her win to her mother, who had to return to Ukraine for an operation. The victory capped an impressive run in the inaugural $250,000 tournament for Yastremska, who dispatched top seed Garbine Muguruza in the quarter-finals. Both finalists – who first faced each other in the China Open qualifiers last year – were in top form in Thailand, not dropping a set until the final.