Tennis: Qualifier Samsonova lifts Berlin title; Jabeur becomes first Arab woman to win a WTA title

Qualifier Liudmila Samsonova capped her breakthrough week on Sunday by winning her first WTA title with victory over Belinda Bencic in the final of the Berlin grass court tournament.

Samsonova, 22, made a mockery of her world ranking of 106 to recover from losing the first set to earn a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Swiss fifth seed Bencic.

It was another display of power tennis from the Russian who stunned former world number one Victoria Azarenka in Saturday’s semi-final.

Despite having her service broken twice in losing the first set, Samsonova immediately applied pressure at the start of the second.

She racing into a 4-0 lead to serve out the set, which she won by blasting down seven aces without reply.

Bencic, ranked 12th in the world, was broken again at the start of the deciding set and Samsonova applied enough pressure at 5-3 up to convert her second match point.

Jabeur becomes first Arab woman to win WTA title

Ons Jabeur became the first Arab woman to win a WTA title on Sunday when the Tunisian beat Daria Kasatkina of Russia 7-5, 6-4 in an engrossing hour and a half tussle in Birmingham.

Jabeur, the second seed, gained a measure of revenge as she secured her first title at the expense of Kasatkina, one of two women to have beaten her in her previous finals appearances.

Jabeur, ranked 24 in the world, has been in fine form this season where she ranks alongside former world number one Ashleigh Barty in terms of matches (28) won.

The 26-year-old held her nerve despite Kasatkina breaking back when Jabeur served for the first set at 5-4.

Jabeur, though, broke world number 35 Kasatkina immediately and this time she made no mistake in serving to win the set.

Kasatkina had beaten Jabeur twice in three-set affairs.

However, her opponent did not give her a sniff of a chance of a repeat of forcing her into a decider as she raced into a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Kasatkina, winner of two titles this season, fought her way back to 4-3 down but the Tunisian remained focused, sealing the title on her first match point when the Russian netted.