Yaroslava Shvedova and Caroline Garcia Win WTA Challenger Titles This Week

• Tennis News
• WTA Tennis

Tennis - Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova scored a hard-fought three-set win over 18-year-old Japanese player Naomi Osaka to win the WTA Hua Hin Challenger event on Sunday. The 82nd ranked Shvedova defeated the 2-3rd ranked Osaka 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 in 2 hours and 51 minutes, staving off 17 aces from her younger opponent.

This was Shvedova's second WTA career title. Shvedova won the first set with an exhausting 22-point final game and took an early break in the second set. But Osaka fought back from 1-3 down to level the set at 3-3 and won the set in a tie-breaker.

Osaka went up an early break twice in the final set but both times Shvedova managed to break back and at 5-4, she managed to break the Japanese youngster's serve with a superb passing shot on a Osaka drop shot. Meanwhile, at the WTA Challenger in Limoges, Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia defeated American Louisa Chirico 6-1, 6-3 to win her first title of the season in front of a delighted home crowd.

Garcia is ranked 35th in the world to Chirico's 120th, the American would have cracked the Top 100 in the rankings with a title win this week. Also Read - Yaroslava Shvedova to play at US Open Finals Instead of Getting Married Also Read - Garcia to team up with Kristina Mladenovic for Doubles Next Season