The third seed, 7th ranked Oona Orpana from Finland and fourth seed, 10th ranked Taisya Pachkaleva, Russia, did battle in the finals at Drottningens Pris. It was going to be a close contest between the two. Orpana impressed in her previous wins and Pachkaleva hadn’t dropped a set on her way to the finals.
In the opening set, both competitors struggled to find their rhythm during the first games but Pachkaleva drew first blood and broke to 2-1 with a backhand winner down the line. Orpana who relies on her heavy groundstrokes and serve wasn’t able to break through the Russians perfect defense and counter attacks and the unforced errors came more often from the Fin. First set to Pachkaleva 6-2.
In the second, Orpana looked inspired, found the court with her heavy groundstrokes and managed to take a commanding 4-1 lead. Pachkaleva however, kept her cool and fought back to 4-4. The Russian played clever tennis, mixing up her game well and forced Orpana to go for the lines. At the end of the longest game of the match, Pachkaleva broke to 5-4 and served for the match, but immediately got broken back to love. The Fin then upped her game and won the second set 7-5 with a well struck forehand crosscourt winner.
The third set started shaky an both players looked a bit nervous and traded breaks. At 3-3 Pachkaleva shifted gear and played some amazing tennis up to 5-3. The Russian had two match points at 15-40 but the Fin managed to hang on another game with some brilliant groundstrokes. At 5-4 Pachkaleva held her nerve and on match point, Orpana hit a backhand long to end the final at Drottningens Pris. Final score 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
