Lin Zhu achieved her first career's WTA title by winning the WTA 250 Thailand Open in Hua Hin. The Chinese defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-4 6-4 in Sunday's final.
Zhu advanced to the final with a style, losing just one set in her first round duel against fellowcountry Xinyu Wang. Tsurenko has needed to prevail against tournament's top seed and favorite to grab the title - Bianca Andreescu. The Canadian needed to withdraw due to an injury in a second set of their semifinal match, which promoted Tsurenko to the final.
Final match was a shaky battle with much inconsistency in play and vulnerability on serve for both players. Tsurenko started well with a break in opening game, but it was the last time when she was on the front foot in this final, as Zhu was seemingly controlling the match after leveling and heading into the lead in first set. Whole the match brought as many as 14 breaks in 20 games in general, while the Ukrainian managed to win just two service games out of her 10, which was just to weak performance to celebrate the first WTA title after 5 years drought.
The Chinese celebrates not just the maiden WTA title, but stunning start of the season in general. With an addition of her sensational Australian Open's Round of 16 run, Zhu places herself in 9th place on the WTA Race list and will achieve her career's high 41th place in general ranking.
