Washington - Seventh-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia beat unseeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) on Sunday to win the Citi Open for the second consecutive year in Washington.
Rybarikova, who is ranked 43rd, improved her record at the hard-court tournament to 10-0.
Half of her four career titles have come in Washington.
"I would love to play (here) all the time, maybe," said Rybarikova, who is ranked 43rd.
She fell behind 4-0 before taking eight consecutive games to win the first set and go up 2-0 in the second.
There was one other blip for Rybarikova, who was broken while serving for the match at 5-4 in the last set.
"I was really tight and my arm was kind of shaking," Rybarikova said.
But she pulled herself together in the tie-breaker, explaining later that she was "really, really calm and relaxed."
Petkovic, in contrast, was feeling fatigued out down the stretch. She had a tough turnaround, coming back to play in the final a little more than 15 hours after her rain-delayed semi-final finished past 2 am on Sunday.
By the time she got a massage and ate something and wound down, Petkovic said, she didn't get to bed until 5 am and got only four or five hours of sleep.
"That lack of energy - it doesn't affect my body so much, but it affects always my emotions and my mental state. So I was getting really emotional out there when I normally stay really calm," said Petkovic, a former top-10 player who is coming back from a series of injuries and is currently ranked 64th.
Rybarikova, who is ranked 43rd, improved her record at the hard-court tournament to 10-0.
Half of her four career titles have come in Washington.
"I would love to play (here) all the time, maybe," said Rybarikova, who is ranked 43rd.
She fell behind 4-0 before taking eight consecutive games to win the first set and go up 2-0 in the second.
There was one other blip for Rybarikova, who was broken while serving for the match at 5-4 in the last set.
"I was really tight and my arm was kind of shaking," Rybarikova said.
But she pulled herself together in the tie-breaker, explaining later that she was "really, really calm and relaxed."
Petkovic, in contrast, was feeling fatigued out down the stretch. She had a tough turnaround, coming back to play in the final a little more than 15 hours after her rain-delayed semi-final finished past 2 am on Sunday.
By the time she got a massage and ate something and wound down, Petkovic said, she didn't get to bed until 5 am and got only four or five hours of sleep.
"That lack of energy - it doesn't affect my body so much, but it affects always my emotions and my mental state. So I was getting really emotional out there when I normally stay really calm," said Petkovic, a former top-10 player who is coming back from a series of injuries and is currently ranked 64th.