No.98 McCartney Kessler captured her first Hologic WTA Tour title after toppling No.1 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the Tennis in the Land final in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday. Kessler lost seven of the first eight games of the match before mounting a remarkable comeback to secure her breakthrough title. 

Kessler played collegiate tennis at the University of Florida and began this year ranked No.231. The 25-year-old American wild card came into Cleveland with just one tour-level win in her career, which she secured in January at the Australian Open.

Kessler proceeded to win five matches in Cleveland, ousting three of the Top 5 seeds along the way. En route to the WTA 250 title, Kessler defeated Katrina Scott, Wang Xinyu, Arantxa Rus and Anastasia Potapova before earning her first Top 25 win over Haddad Maia. 

Playing on the heels of making her Top 100 debut two weeks ago and earning a US Open main-draw wild card, Kessler closed out the Cleveland title with yet another gritty three-set victory. Three of Kessler's four matches before the final went a full three sets and despite the heavy strapping around her upper right leg, Kessler was primed for another physical battle.

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Haddad Maia, who was playing her first final since winning the WTA Elite Trophy last fall, rolled through a 28-minute opening set and broke Kessler immediately to build her lead to a set and a break. She struck just two unforced errors in the first set and did not give Kessler a chance to break.

But Kessler stormed back behind steady baseline work to win six consecutive games and take the match into a deciding set after just over an hour of play. She turned the tables by out-steadying Haddad Maia from the baseline. While Haddad Maia hit 10 unforced errors in the second set, Kessler kept her ledger clean, hitting just five. 

In the deciding set, Haddad Maia opened up another lead, this time at 3-1, before the 25-year-old American took advantage of a poor service game to break back and level the set at 3-all. The duo exchanged service holds until Kessler made one final. Serving at 5-5, deuce, Haddad Maia was punished for a failed serve and volley attempt and Kessler broke on the next point, slamming a backhand winner off a net cord.

Stepping to the line to serve out the win, Kessler coolly held at love to seal the win after 2 hours and 6 minutes.

Kessler is set to face No.19 seed Marta Kostyuk in the first round of the US Open on Monday.

In doubles, No.2 seeds Cristina Bucsa and Xu Yifan defeated the No.3 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi 3-6, 6-3 [10-6] to win the title.