MARBELLA, Spain (AP)—Second-seeded Flavia Pennetta beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Andalucia Open.
The 16th-ranked Italian player served up six aces and broke Suarez Navarro seven times on the outdoor clay to take her first title of the season, in just over two hours.
After racing to a 5-1 lead, Pennetta went on to take the first set, Suarez Navarro dropping the opener for the third straight match.
Suarez Navarro took advantage of Pennetta’s six double-faults to break four times herself, helping the eighth seed to win the second set and even up the contest.
But Pennetta hung on to win her ninth career title and hand Suarez Navarro a second straight defeat in the final.
“It was a tough contest from the start,” Pennetta said.