Zidansek takes Bari 125 title with comeback win

No.5 seed Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia pulled off a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 comeback win over Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova to claim the WTA 125 Open delle Puglie title in Bari, Italy on Sunday.

Zidansek, a Roland Garros semifinalist in 2021, saved four championship points at 5-4 in the second set while steering her way to a 2-hour and 43-minute victory at the clay-court event.

After escaping the danger of the second set, Zidansek won two-thirds of Sramkova's second-service points in the decider. Zidansek also erased both of the break points she faced in the third set.

Zidansek is now 3-0 against Sramkova, winning each of those matches from one set down. The pair had faced off just two weeks prior on a completely different surface and continent -- on the hard courts of US Open qualifying.

Zidansek collected her third WTA 125 singles title, having previously taken home back-to-back trophies at Bol in 2018 and 2019. Sunday marked Zidansek's first singles title at any level since she won her maiden Hologic WTA Tour title at Lausanne in 2021. 

After her comeback exploits this week, former World No.22 Zidansek has re-entered the Top 100. She rises from No.118 to No.87 in Monday's updated rankings. 

The Bari doubles final was much more straightforward than the singles final, as No.4 seeds Katarzyna Kawa and Anna Siskova swept to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Valentini Grammatikopoulou and Elixane Lechemia in just 56 minutes.

It is the fourth WTA 125 doubles title for Kawa in her career. In fact, Kawa won a WTA 125 doubles title just last month on home soil in Kozerki, Poland -- where her partner was Lechemia, whom she defeated today.

This is Czech Siskova's first WTA 125 doubles title, after previously finishing runner-up in Makarska earlier this summer.