Hercog rallies to defend Swedish title

23 Jul 2012 02:10:19

Slovenian Polona Hercog successfully defended her Swedish Open crown on Sunday, rallying to beat Frenchwoman Mathilde Johansson.

Hercog, who claimed her maiden career title with victory against Johanna Larsson in the 2011 final, needed two hours and 15 minutes to overcome her Swedish-born opponent 0-6 6-4 7-5 in Bastad.

The world number 86 endured a difficult start to the match as Johansson won 89 percent of her first serves, compared to Hercog's 20 percent.

It was a different story in the second set with Johansson recording seven double faults, as Hercog fought off some early jitters to win the first four games.

Johansson's serve was her downfall again in the deciding set as she ended the match with 16 double-faults.

Hercog capitalised on her opponent's errors to race out to a 4-1 lead in the final set but Johansson rallied to level the scores at 5-5.

The reigning champion steadied, however, breaking Johansson one more time before serving out the match to claim the second WTA singles title of her career.