Danilovic beats Dolehide in Guangzhou to end six-year title drought

No.86 Olga Danilovic captured her second career Hologic WTA Tour title on Sunday after defeating No.101 qualifier Caroline Dolehide 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the Guangzhou Open presented by AVATR. The title is the 23-year-old Serbian’s first on a hard court.

Danilovic lost just one set during her Guangzhou title run, besting Erika Andreeva, Diane Parry, Mananchaya Sawangkaew and top seed Katerina Siniakova in the semifinals. Prior to this week, Danilovic had yet to make it past the Round of 16 at a tour-level hard-court event.

“I’m so happy. the way I played the whole week, the whole tournament,” Danilovic said. “I’m so proud of myself and my team. I showed what I can do and prove it to myself, I think, the most.

“So I’m so happy and very excited to be finishing the season this way.”

While Danilovic’s week in Guangzhou was surgically efficient, Dolehide was made to work. The 26-year-old came into the final off back-to-back-to-back three-set wins. Two of those wins came down to a third-set tiebreak, and less than 24 hours earlier, Dolehide survived four match points to edge Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(9) in the semifinals.

Including qualifying, Dolehide spent over three hours more on court than Danilovic. The fatigue showed in the final. Danilovic improved her record against the American to 3-0, but this was their first match that needed just two sets.

Danilovic broke first in the opening set and her ability to maintain pressure on Dolehide’s serve proved the difference. While getting broken just once herself, Danilovic broke Dolehide five times in the match. Danilovic’s flatter hitting kept  Dolehide on the run and when the American tried to attack the net, Danilovic’s counter-attacking passing shots were near-automatic.

In doubles, top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Zhang Shuai rolled to the Guangzhou title, defeating Katerina Piter and Fanny Stollar 6-4, 6-1. Siniakova and Zhang did not lose a set during the week and Piter and Stollar were the only team to win more than 3 games against them in a set.

The win is World No.1 Siniakova’s 27th career doubles title, fifth of the season, and first with Zhang. For former No.2 Zhang, this is her 14th career doubles title and first of the season. Prior to Guangzhou, Zhang made three finals this year, in Souel and Birmingham with Miyu Kato and the US Open with Kristina Mladenovic.