Kasatkina captures her eighth title at the Ningbo Open

Daria Kasatkina had to battle through a back-and-forth clash in the WTA 500 Ningbo Open final on Sunday, coming back from a third-set deficit to win her eight career singles title.

In a topsy-turvy showdown between Top 20 players, World No.11 Kasatkina overcame Mirra Andreeva 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in their first meeting.

Kasatkina needed 1 hour and 54 minutes to hold off 17-year-old Andreeva, who is currently ranked a career-high World No.19 enroute to her second title of this season.

“It’s been a very, very tough week, honestly,” Kasatkina said after prevailing. “All the matches were super tough. In the quarterfinal I came back from two match points down, and today from 3-0, almost 4-0 [down] in the third set.

“So this trophy means a lot because I worked on many challenges during this week, and I’m really proud of myself.”

Kasatkina captured the eighth WTA singles title of her career on Sunday, and the sixth of those on hard court. Her path to the title was tricky, even before the unpredictable final — she saved two match points in her quarterfinal win over Yulia Putintseva.

“I think in terms of consistency, this year was [my] best one,” Kasatkina said. “Mentally, outside of the court as well, so I’m pretty happy with myself, the way we’re doing our job, and how things are going. There’s nothing to complain about, for sure.”