Monday 16 October 2017 08:44, UK
Maria Sharapova has won her first title since returning from a drugs ban, having beaten Aryna Sabalenka in the Tianjin Open final.
The Russian was made to work hard by her opponent but eventually prevailed 7-5 7-6 (10-8) after two hours and five minutes.
Sharapova returned to action in April after a 15-month suspension for the use of banned substance meldonium and has endured mixed fortunes since then, posting some decent results but also battling with injuries.
Given a wild card into the Tianjin event, the five-time Grand Slam winner marched into the final without dropping a set.
And she maintained that record against Belarussian teenager Sabalenka, but made hard work of closing out the win against her gutsy opponent.
The former world No 1 had to come from 4-1 down in the first set and 5-1 down in the second, and then failed to serve out the victory in the second set, before needing four match points to win a lengthy tie-break.
But, when Sabalenka put a forehand return long, Sharapova was finally able to celebrate her first WTA title since the 2015 Italian Open.
It was a 36th WTA Tour title in total for the 30-year-old, who was contesting her seventh tournament since returning to action.
Meanwhile, Barbora Strycova defeated Magdalena Rybarikova in straight sets in the final at Linz to claim her second WTA Tour title.
The Czech 31-year-old had not won a tournament since her maiden success in Quebec City in 2011, but eased to a 6-4 6-1 victory in Austria against the Slovakian top seed, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals earlier this year.
Strycova was seeded second for the tournament, despite being ranked two places above Rybarikova at world No 26, but she ended a run of five consecutive final defeats with ease.
And Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova emerged victorious from her marathon battle with Daria Gavrilova, needing three hours and 13 minutes to win the final of the Hong Kong Open.
The Russian won 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in a match that finished around 1am local time, because of numerous rain delays.
The pair are separated by just a single spot in the WTA rankings - the 21st-ranked Pavlyuchenkova being the higher of the two.
There were 16 breaks of serve in all, including eight in a row during the latter stages of the final set.
Pavlyuchenkova, who resides in Moscow, failed to convert two match points at 15-40 in game 10 before recovering from 1-3 down in the tie-break to win six points in a row against the Moscow-born Australian Gavrilova.
Pavlyuchenkova said: "I'm just happy to finally finish this match in brutal conditions."
We will have all the action from the Erste Bank Open and Swiss Indoors Basel before the Paris Masters.
The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and season-ending extravaganza World Tour Finals at London's O2 in November end another memorable year which will be covered via our website www.skysports.com/tennis with live blogs and updates as the season reaches its climax.
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