Oeiras, Portugal (SportsNetwork.com) - Top seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain beat two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia to capture her first WTA title at the Portugal Open, a clay court French Open tune-up.
Suarez Navarro defeated Kuznetsova, the No. 7 seed, by a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 score in Saturday's final. The Spaniard battled back from 4-1 down in the third set to record her 26th victory of the season.
"I'm very happy I could finally win my first WTA title," Suarez Navarro said. "I was a little bit nervous today. It was a difficult match too -- it was windy today and we were both making mistakes, and we know each other well, but the most important thing for me today was just to be solid all the time.
"On match point I was only thinking to put the ball in, and that's what I did, and I felt so good when I finally finished the match. The ceremony was very special for me. I really love this tournament."
The 25-year-old Suarez Navarro was runner-up here the last two years. She improved to 1-5 in career finals.
Kuznetsova fell to 13-20 for her career in title matches.
"I tried to fight, but unfortunately it didn't happen today, and I want to congratulate Carla on a great week," Kuznetsova said. "It's definitely an amazing feeling to win your first WTA title."
The world No. 29 Kuznetsova entered Saturday's match with a 3-1 lifetime record against the Spaniard.
Suarez Navarro took home $48,000 with the victory.
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