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Sports

Kerber rallies past Wozniacki for Stuttgart crown

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Stuttgart, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) - Angelique Kerber thrilled the home crowd with a stirring comeback to beat Caroline Wozniacki for the title at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

Kerber rallied for a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory in Sunday's final for her fifth career WTA title and second of the year. The 27-year-old German previously captured the Charleston crown earlier this month and, including a Fed Cup win against Russia, is riding an 11-match winning streak -- all on clay.

"A few days ago I said clay is actually not my favorite surface, but right now I think I will change my mind," said Kerber. "I've played very well on clay the last few days and weeks. I feel good that I have had so many matches on clay, and now I'm looking forward to the next tournaments before Paris."

Wozniacki, seeded fourth this week, was coming off a three-set win over Simona Halep in Saturday's semifinals and carried that momentum into the first set on Sunday, taking it in 32 minutes.

Kerber, though, quickly turned the tables. She dropped just one game in the 25-minute second set to force a decisive third.

Wozniacki opened leads of 3-1 and 5-3 in the last, but Kerber managed to claw back. She won the last four games, including a pair of breaks, finishing the match in just over two hours.

"I had 5-3 in the third set and 30-all, and it could have gone both ways, but she took her chances and it went her way," said Wozniacki after the match. "We're great friends, we hang out a lot and practice a lot together, and it's always nice to play a friend in a final. You obviously want to win, but if you don't, it's still nice that your friend does."

Wozniacki, who was trying for her 24th career title, fell to 1-2 in finals this year. She lost to Venus Williams at the season-opener in Auckland and beat Alexandra Dulgheru last month in Kuala Lumpur.

Kerber has won six of the 10 all-time meetings with Wozniacki and improved to 5-9 all-time in WTA finals, also earning a first prize of $108,000 plus a new Porsche 911 Carrera sports car.