No.5 seed 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 second title of the year.

Ningbo: Scores | Draws

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.

WTA 500 expert: 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.

But Kasatkina has been a match-winning machine at this year’s WTA 500 events — she has made six finals this year, all of them in that tier. She had gone 1-4 in those previous 2024 finals, taking the title only at Eastbourne, but she moved into the winner’s circle once again with her Ningbo triumph.

Tale of the match: Kasatkina got off to a flying start on Sunday, firing a rally forehand crosscourt to win her third straight close game and lead 3-0. From there, Kasatkina rolled to a set-and-a-break lead at 6-0, 1-0.

Andreeva, though, turned the tables in the second set, reeling off four games in a row to lead 4-1. Kasatkina battled back to 4-4, but she only had one winner in the second set, and Andreeva leveled affairs at one set apiece.

Andreeva kept her momentum going and led 3-0 in the third set, but there were more twists to come as Kasatkina regained the range on her heavy groundstrokes. Kasatkina suddenly took the next five games to move ahead 5-3 in the decider.

A pair of wide errors by Andreeva in the last points of the day wrapped up a hard-fought victory for Kasatkina. The fifth seed was mostly rock-solid on break points in the championship final, converting seven of her eight chances.

Schuurs, Yuan take doubles crown: The Chinese fans saw one of their home players capture the Ningbo Open doubles title on Sunday, as Yuan Yue paired with the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs to capture the trophy.

Teaming up for the very first time this week, Schuurs and Yuan defeated No.1 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez 6-3, 6-3 in a 68-minute final on Sunday. The champions saved all four break points they faced in the final.

On her home soil, Yuan won her first career WTA doubles title. Doubles stalwart Schuurs, meanwhile, has won 19 career doubles titles on the Hologic WTA Tour.

More to come…