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A shower that delayed the start of play for nearly two hours was just a prelude to the storm that Russia's Anna Chakvetadze created on court in blowing past Sweden's Johanna Larsson 6-1 and 6-2 to lift the Banka Koper Slovenia Open title on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Russian, who was ranked as high as No. 5 in 2007, showed much of the form that made her a top-ten player as she raced to her first WTA title in nearly two years and the eighth of her career in a mere hour.

“Of course I’m not at the same level that I used to be but I’m close,” the Russian said of her performance in Portoroz, where she beat three seeds en route to succeeding fellow Russian Dinara Safina as the champion.

Chakvetadze showed no symptoms of the slow start that hampered her previous two outings, when she rallied from a set down to win the quarter-final and semi-final. "Today I was very concentrated, I felt the rhythm of my strokes and I saw her weak spot - her backhand - and played the ball there.”

Breaking her opponent for the first time in the fourth game, the Russian then fought off a counter-attack and responded by stepping up her game another notch to wrap up the set in just 22 minutes.

The Swede, who entered the tournament ranked 19 places higher than the Russian in 84th, never truly threatened, as anything she produced was met with a swift and decisive response from Chakvetadze.

Larsson momentarily regained her composure to win her service game at the outset of the second set and pressured Chakvetadze's service in the next game, only to see that attempt quashed by the relentless Russian.

This would prove the turning point in the second set, as Chakvetadze used the momentum to break in the next game and then press ahead to 5-1.

The Swede summed up the state of affairs on the court after the match: "Anna played really well today. I thought I was fighting out there and I did everything I could, but she was just too good."

Fittingly for a tournament in which she dug her way out of a hole time and time again, the Russian closed out the match having saved three-break points to win her service game.

"I hope this will give me some confidence so that I can play better against the top players," she said of her efforts to get back to her former glory.

Her sights are now be set on the US Open, where she first broke into the top five three years ago. “If you do well at a grand slam, you kind of start to believe that you can do really well.”

And while Chakvetadze looks for the form to return to former glory, 21-year-old Larsson, for whom this was the first final, is ecstatic about her newfound success on the WTA Tour.

"I'm really happy, obviously, even though I might not look happy right now. I’ve started playing really well - the quarters last week [in Prague] and a final this week. If someone told me this a month ago, I would not believe that."

On her way to the final she ousted three seeded players - Sara Errani, Vera Dushevina and local star Polona Hercog.

Source: www.portoroz.si

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