Sema & Riecschick Take Titles In Wellington

Japanese fifth seed Erika Sema won the battle of the glare and stare competition at the Configure Express Pro international tennis event in Wellington when she out-rallied her Bulgarian opponent, Elitsa Kostova in three tight sets on Sunday.

And while Sema won the singles title in the US$25,000 women’s event, it was second seed Sebastian Rieschick who defeated Aussie top seed, Brydan Klein in straight sets 7-5 6-3 in the final of the men’s tournament for the second successive week.

Last week it was Esperance in Western Australia for Rieschick and Klein. This week Wellington and a fourth successive runner-up finish in consecutive tournaments for Klein, the last two losses to the German.

And while there was plenty of good shot making in the men’s final, it was the women’s match which had the intensity as both Kostova ranked at 255 in the world and the winning over top 50 player Jarmila Groth the previous day and Sema ranked at 241 both stared each other down after points and screeched louder as the match became closer and the score see-sawed.

Eventually it was Sema coming away the winner of the passionate match 6-2 3-6 6-4 to add to her two wins and one finalist placing in her last four events. Sema hit a nagging length on most of her shots and refused to let the flair of Kostova put her off her own game.

At one stage in the final set it was Kostova looking the more likely winner, but the cool head of Sema on a couple of vital points changed that when needed and she was able to wait for the error from her rival.

For 24-year-old Rieschick the win should take him from his current rank of 302 to back inside the top 300 and close to his career high of 284. The title is his  fourth Futures win of the year. Klein on the other hand needs to win this week’s Futures event just outside of Melbourne to take his ranking inside the top 200 and be a contender for an Australian Open wildcard where he has fallen out of favour after some disciplinary issues with the sports governing body in Australia.

Configure Express Pro Results:

US$25,000 women’s tournament

Women’s final:

(5)Erika Sema(JPN) bt (6)Elitsa Kostova(BUL) 6-2 3-6 6-4

US$15,000 men’s tournament:

Men’s final:

(2)Sebastian Rieschick(GER) bt (1)Brydan Klein(AUS) 7-5 6-3