MOSCOW (AP)—Sixth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 Sunday to win the Kremlin Cup.
Playing in her home city of Moscow, the Russian seized her chance in the $710,000 tournament when Begu tired after two evenly-matched sets.
Pavlyuchenkova skipped across the court after converting her second match point to become the first Russian woman to win the Kremlin Cup since Elena Dementieva in 2007.
''It's just the best possible way to end the season,'' Pavlyuchenkova said. ''It was a really tough match. I just couldn't have lost at home.''
The Russian is now 7-3 in career WTA finals. The Kremlin Cup is her season's second title after the Open GDF Suez in Paris.
Pavlyuchenkova dropped just one set in the five matches she played on the way to her title, none of them against a seeded opponent.
World No. 61 Begu is 1-3 in finals. This was her first final since 2012.
Absent from the trophy presentation was Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpischev, who was banned for a year by the WTA on Friday after derogatory comments about Serena and Venus Williams. Speaking on court at the ceremony, Pavlyuchenkova made a point of thanking Tarpischev for organizing the event.
The men's final is later Sunday, pitting U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic of Croatia, seeded second, against fifth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.