Tennis fans couldn’t believe that Tennis Channel was telecasting Pickleball while the WTA Washington Women’s final was taking place.
The Citi Open women’s final saw Kaia Kanepi take on Ludmilla Samsonova. The Russian youngster Samsonova won her first WTA Tour title last year at the German Open. This year, her performances haven’t been close to what she would have desired. A Stuttgart Open semi-final appearance was the only bright spot until the Citi Open came about.
Samsonova gained confidence after defeating 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the quarter-final. After defeating Xiyu Wang with exceptional elan in the semi-final, Samsonova booked a date with Estonian veteran Kaia Kanepi in the final. Fans were excited to see the experienced campaigner battle it out against a dogged youngster in the final, but unfortunately, Tennis Channel deprived them of some mouth-watering action.
Here are some of the Twitter reactions from the angry fans who lashed out at Tennis Channel:
Some tennis fans also expressed their concerns over the fact that how tennis courts were being converted into Pickleball courts in their locality.
Samsonova lost the first set but didn’t show any signs of panic. She came back strongly in the second set and didn’t give her opponent an inch. In the end, Samsonova won the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The match lasted one hour and forty minutes as Samsonova clinched her second WTA title. World No. 42 hit 10 aces and connected on 81.4% of her first serve-points to rattle Kanepi.
This was just the second meeting between the two women. They faced each other in the first round at SW19 last year and Samsonova won that match in straight sets. Kanepi was eyeing her 5th singles title win and first in 9 years but she was ousted by an in-form Samsonova in a riveting final.
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