Martic soars past Danilovic to win Lausanne

Petra Martic captured her second career Hologic WTA Tour singles title Sunday at the Ladies Open Lausanne with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic. 

After winning back-to-back matches just twice this year until Wimbledon, the 31-year-old Martic has now doubled that in her past two events. She reached the fourth round at the All-England Club, losing a tight two-setter to eventual champion Elena Rybakina and earned five wins in the Swiss Alps to take her second career title. 

Entering Lausanne ranking No. 85, Martic is projected to return to the Top 60 in the WTA rankings next week. 

Tale of the tape: After beating three seeded players en route to the final -- No.5 Nuria Parrizas Diaz, No. 2 Belinda Bencic and No. 6 Caroline Garcia -- Martic needed just 89 minutes to sweep past qualifier Danilovic. After a tight first seven games, where the players traded breaks, Martic won nine of the last 11 games to win the match. 

Martic hit 23 winners to just 10 unforced errors in victory and also served six aces. She broke Danilovic's serve four times in 10 opportunities, and only faced one break point herself in the match. Danilovic's best opportunity on return in the second half of the match came in a four-deuce game on Martic's serve at 3-2 in the second set, but the Croatian eventually held on her fifth game point. 

"I think I played pretty consistent from the beginning until the end," Martic said. "Yesterday and the matches before, I couldn't do that and I had a few drops. Today, I really tried to stay sharp and not let her get back in the match."

What it means: Martic's first career title also came on clay in Istanbul, Turkey in 2019, and she's contested three of her five singles finals on the surface. Danilovic was also bidding for her second career title and first since she captured the Moscow River Cup as a 17-year-old in 2018. She was the first player born in the 2000s to win a Hologic WTA Tour singles title. 

Martic leveled her career head-to-head against Danilovic at 1-1 with the victory and was complementary of the 21-year-old's talent in her victory speech. She'd previously lost to Danilovic, who was making her debut, in the first round of the 2021 Australian Open when Martic was seeded No. 16.

"When I arrived here [in Lausanne] on the first day, it was the beginning of qualies. I came to check out the Center Court and the opening match was Olga," Martic said. "I was with my agent, and I told her, 'I think this girl is going to be such a great player,' and not only is she going to be, I think she already is.

"You already won a tournament like this, beaten me before, done so many nice things, and it's only the beginning for you."